The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1891. VOLUNTEERS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2152, 20 January 1891, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1891. VOLUNTEERS.

It is evident from the report of the Temuka Rifles published in last Tuesday’s issue that the volunteers of the colony are not on a very satisfactory footing. Indeed, we cannot see how it could be otherwise. Instead of encouraging volunteering it has been recently _ discouraged, and indeed we think Private Sim struck the nail on the head when he attributed the non-attendance at parades to the fact that it was anticipated that the corps would be broken up. It will be remembered that about the time the men were not attending drill regularly the Government were throwing out feelers about disbanding country corps and forming them into rifle clubs. Many at that time thought this would be done, and very possibly it is to this the nonattendance is attributable. Indeed, we are not surprised at the volunteers attending irregularly. What surprises us is that they attend at all. It is no easy matter for men after their day’s work to come a considerable distance and put in a couple of hours drill, especially when there is not the slightest encouragement for it. The capitation they get is so paltry that it cannot offer any inducement to any one, and it is ridiculous to expect men to submit to military discipline when they have nothing to gain by it. This is not as it should be. The State ought to pay every man for his services, and volunteers ought also to be paid. Almost every civilised country maintains a standing army which costs an immense sum of money, and the least we might do is to spend a few hundred pounds on volunteers, Some people ridicule volunteers as playing at soldiers and so forth, but this is utter rubbish. Volunteers are flesh and blood,like all soldiers, and if called upon to go on active duty they Would give as good an account of themselves as any other class of soldiers. It is equally ridiculous to talk about their services not being wanted. On the continent of Europe a standing army of 3,000,000 is maintained by the various powers, and their services have not been required for years. In England it is the same. Indeed, it is not very often one meets with a soldier who has been under fire. The very reason that causes these countries to maintain standing armies ought to cause us to maintain a good Volunteer Army, We may never want their services, but still they might be required at any moment. Not only are we to provide against a foreign enemy, but we have also to provide for the possibility of disturbances amongst our own people. We maintain but a very small police force, and it is not right that it should be larger. It is sufficient to maintain order under ordinary circumstances, but where would the police be if any serious disturbance took placed? Suppose, for instance, that a disturbance took place during a strike, what could the police do? They could not do much more than hide themselves in their barracks. We want men disciplined and ready >o turn out to preserve peace and maintain the supremacy of the law under such circumstances, and volunteers would be the men to do it. We ought, therefore, to encourage volunteering in every possible way, but this is exactly what is not being done. There is sufficient money spent on defence to satisfy any reasonable demands of volunteers What are called Imperial Officers come to this colony to report very frequently on our volunteer system without the slightest benefit to anyone, and a great deal of money is absolutely wasted in that way. Then there is not the slightest necessity for maintaining one-third the number of men that are employed in the permanent militia and artillery. A great deal of money is wasted in that way too. If the money thus wasted were distributed amongst volunteers we believe that it would be enough to offer sufficient inducements to men to join, and make volunteering a success. But even if we had to add a little more to it we could not spend the money better. It ought to be done, and until it is done it is hopeless to expect men to put themselves to any great inconvenience to do a great deal of work for little or no reward.