The Daily News TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17. DEFENCE MATTERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 18 December 1907, Page 2

The Daily News TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17. DEFENCE MATTERS.

There is little doubt but that the main | idea in Mr Dcakin's mind was to form a model militia after the pattern set by Switzerland. To understand this system it is necessary to see what it his done for the Swiss. In the first place, trained ability has been discarded for organisation and physical culture. So perfect is the organisation that within twenty-four hours of the first alarm every man on the muster roll is in Ins pi ice at the appointed rendezvous. A regiment called out for active service stands exactly as it would if only summoned for training, while it takes the field for manoeuvres as complete as if enrolled for war. Last year the total available force was just a little less than a fifth of the population. Had Great Britain called out a force levied in a like proportion it would have numbered 8,000,000 men, of whom nearly half would have undergone military training. It may fairly be assumed that the proportion available in the colonies under a similar system would coincide approximately with the result attained in Switzerland.

One of the many objections that hive been made to compulsory military service is that such a diversion from productive labor of the working man's time would have a ruinous cllei-t on ..

trade of the country. That is not Switzerland's experience. There Uie soldier, despite his occasional absences from work while undergoing military training, is preferred by employers lo those whose greater freedom would obviate any dislocation of business. His health, energy, increased intelligence, and habits of discipline far outweigh the call on his time. It is asserted on good authority that the industrial progress of Swizcrl.md, for the last decade especially, is to be attributed to the moral and physical effects of her military system. Another phase of the (juestion is that those engaged in military service are stamped with the seal of and physical ability so that the wearers of uniform have the pick of the marriageable daughters of the country.

From :i social point of view, the question arises ab to whether the niobiii»aiion of largo numbers of young men of all sorts of natures would not have a deteriorating inlluenee and help tu swell tlii: ranks of the hooligans and larrikins. Here again some light can be thrown on the matter by the moved results of the Swiss system. A recent writer states that "military service is a school of manners, where the loafer, be he hooligan or millionaire, learns the privilege of work, and the worker, refreshed by the change, linds an escape from it, so the whole people gains.'' There is no question as to the juciieiils to be derived by young men from the discipline and training involved in military service. Possibly temperament anj environment would have their usual eil'ect, so that it would not be wise to look for the results in Australia to be on a par with those attained in .Switzerland.

The conditions of modern warfare are far different from those which prevailed during the American revolution, but even there it was emphatically proved that a nation of armed farmers and undrilled civilians euuld hold their own against the disciplined troops who wore the King's uniform. But they could shoot, no mau being accounted a marksman who could not hit a very small object at a hundred yards, while Virginian riflemen accustomed themselves to hold a piece of board at arm's length, or even between their thighs, ; ,s a target for their comrades to shoot at. The importance of this question of murks.mansliip is very great, but of far greater account is the incomparable advantage of coherency of training and the hnmogenity in its morale which result from a national defence force framed on proper lines. ft must be remembered also that artillery lias now l.ecome a very prominent factor in warfare, and tint its study and practice necessitate in'telligcncc and fortitude to a nnvked degree. ]n other departments of the service there are numerous spurs to the attainment of the qualities that have made the ISrilMi race what it is. All the same any scheme of defence is lint of secondary importance so far as the safety and security of Hie colonies are [ concerned. Our first line of defence is the navy, and while rijrlitlv providing for a reliable and adequate military force there musf l„. no losing sight .. f the imperative duty of maintaining British supremacy at sea. To l,„j|,| hvo battleships to Ovmany's one is sound and it is the duty of the colonies lo assist in carrying out such a programme, for thereby alone can safety ami security be obtained. Mr. Jleakin makes ii doiinji-. pronouncement in regun] lo Hi" csiaiilMmient of an Australian navy, but this U a matter we will have to leave for the present.