UNIVERSAL MILITARY TRAINING

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 79, 29 April 1909, Page 2

UNIVERSAL MILITARY TRAINING

(" ADVOCATED BY MR, JAMES ALLEX. Bv Telegrapb.--Press Association. **" ' Milton, Last Xight. 'f Al Milton to-night. Mr. .1. Allen. M.l'.. ,„ addressed a meeting of his constituents ". on tlie subject of defence. In the course !)b of his address he said that though he had hung on as a volunteer ollieer year I aftlcv rear in the Ihopc that things would better themselves, and that the young men of the country would realise what patriotism really wan, he was now forced into the position that the whole thing was on'wrong lines, and was a great waste of money. He add -A thai iu the Otago district there are supposed to be 47:40 ollicers. noii-coiuniisioii-ed ollicers and men, and yet at the last IX Easter encampment the attendance was only 1-114, including 307 cadets. Mr. Allen advocates universal training es where everybody shall give something al n any rate of his time and of his ability Hi' to the service oi hits country. Xothing. ■ig lie .-ays. is further from his mind than the bugbear of conscription. What he of urge- is a system that has been tried ir- elsewhere, and which has proved itself ng to a very large extent a isucccss. lie does not believe that this national training should end at 21 years. He would begin with the cadets and carry on the training consecutively to 21, and from that time onward men should be brought out annually for a certain amount of training, so that in the course of time there ought lo be such a force ready to a- lake arms that even the most powerful ii> nation approximate to us would hesitate Ji' lo come into conflict with us. We eould w not shirk this responsibility, and wc a- could not make preparations* for it in a ie day. The Australians, lie contended. Id were going on right lilies generally hi J. Hlis matter of detenee, and they wen r. backed up by expert opinion as expressed at the Colonial Conference. Mr. ?r Allen was thanked for his address, and v- the meeting carried a resolution in >r favor of universal training, both for ir military and naval defence. '• i-