FOR HOME AND COUNTRY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8519, 26 August 1907, Page 5

FOR HOME AND COUNTRY.

THE NATIONAL LEAGUE MOVEMENT. The organiser for the Nation i . League (Captain McNaught), wher .recently in conversation with z .representative of the Wairarapa Age, explained, in an interesting manner, the progress of the movement and the iobjects which the League has in view. "Some ten months ago," said Captain McNaught, "a number of leading commercial and professional gentlemen in Auckland, advocates of universal training, established the , League for the purpose of securing , the youth of the colony, between the . ages of 17 and 21 years, to give at .least three years' service towards , equipping themselves in drill, discipline, and rifle shooting, in order to be in an efficient state to defend the colony in case of need, being also convinced of the principle that it was the duty of every young man in the colony to take his share of the necessary training to defend their hearths and homes. It does not advocate conscription in any shape or form as carried out in Germany and in other countries, where the recruit is taken from his home and civil life for a term of two and three years to barrack life. Their aims and objects, if given effect to, could not in any single case prove a hardship or burden to the young men of New Zealand, because they would simply be required to swell the ranks of the Volunteers of the colony, carrying out their training without loss of time from their work or civil,calling. WHAT THE LEAGUE HAS DONE. Up-to the present time the work of the League has been carried on in a systematic manner. Branches have been established all over the Auckland district, into the Waikato and Waihi districts, New Plymouth, Eltham, Stratford, Inglewood, Hawera, Palmerton North, Napier, and Hastings, and in a'.l cases the League's proposals have been enthusiastically received.

ORGANISATION AND ITS EXPENSES In order to give due effect to the work of the National League, a large amount ofjorganisation, time, and expense is necessary. The head office at Auckland has its own expenses in the work ni conducting a monthly journal (which is issued and posted free to all members on one shilling annually), books of constitution and rules, and literature necessary for all branches. Then the expenses of the organiser, in salary | and traveling round the colony, are necessarily very heavy, and in order to carry out the complete organisation of Ne.v Zealand, funds, in the shape of donations from supporters of the movement, who can afford it, in each town, are collected. Ihe membership subscription of one shilling goes in the issue of the journal and carrying on the work of branches and districts,

ARE THE- AIMS AND OBJECTS OF THE LEAGUE NECESSARY. There can be no question about this. The defence of the colony is as necessary to the safety and well being of the State as our civil training now insisted on and provided by the State. Throughout the British dominions a similar spirit is awakening, and quickening the Anglo-Saxon race towards a lasting Imperialism, founded deep down in racial traditions of democratic self-reliance and independence, that recognite and insist that the rights and privileges of democracy and freedom are inseparable from the obligations of protection, due to the State. Mr Haldane, Great Britain's Minister for War ,has said that "a nation in arms is the only safeguard for the public interest." Therefore the League's proposal for compulsory training is essentially a citizen army, and goes to make a nation in arms. The surest, cheapest, and most effective method, to be thoroughly prepared for war and the open door to peace. IS NEW ZEALAND WORTH DEFENDING? We are proud of our colony, on account of its importance as one of the principal oversea dominions of our great Empire. We are proud of the freedom and manifold privileges we enjoy under the British flag, and of our prosperity, resources, commercial and industrial position, our progressive legislation in matters of education, labour laws, etc., and of being a self-governing colony. Yes, it is a glorious heritage, too valuable to lose, and yet we give no serious thought to be in a position to keep and maintain it. I mean by national defence, after all, national insurance. We must wake up from our absolute indifference to the seriousness of our position, and from wholly relying upon our navy to conserve and protect our colony or sooner or later we may lose our much-coveted and cherished islands of the Southern Seas. In the race for national supremacy that is taking place all over the world, it becomes our bounden duty to see to it. The unrest in India, the tremendous advancement Germany and Japan have made during the past few years, the great possibilities of China, with its 400,000,000 of people, becoming as great a fighting Power as Japan, who, even at the present hour can put over four millions of perfectly trained soldiers into the field, and by 1914 experts to place eight millions in that direction, the fact also that Japan has the practical control of the Eastern Hemisphere, and her determination to further increase the efficiency and striking power of her navy must certainly point in one direction —that of the control of the Pacific. I WHAT CANADA HAS DECIDED. Canada has decided that her sons i shall be regularly trained in the use of arms. i WHAT NEW ZEALAND SHOULD DO. Wo are like all Britishers—a peace-loving-people, too fond of pleasure and sport at the expense of our moral obligations and duties to the proper protection of the State.

f. Let us, I say, adopt the proposals of the National League —less costly to> the State than the great model system of the Swiss, or that of Australia, and less irksome and quite as - * practical and effective for our de-> fence. Become a member, of the a League. Your doing so adds<ano—n ther vote to the number required to •* a carry universal training—a compulsory movement at the' will of. thepeople. The League's proposals are e as follow:-- To ensure domestic " peace and security from all possible • invasion by obtaining the national * adoption of the following safeguards: (a) Universal defensive training either ashore or afloat, of all boys and. e young men until the age of 21, with. = encouragement of continued training. ® (b) All men engaged in every branch: ' of the local maritime and waterside. • s industries ro be licensed; preference ■ in all State employment and licensed occupations to British citizens who / 3 fulfil training conditions. (c) All: 3 assisted immigration to be confined; t to British stock and to those who • 1 have fulfilled or agree to fulfil ! special training conditions (d). Rifle ranges to be provided in everytownship, and Morris tube ranges in •' every urban and suburban school dis- - [ rict. (e) Sufficient rifles to be kept ' in the country to arm every capable ! citizen, and sufficient ammunition ' in suitable centres to make all riflemen effective for defence. (f) Any other legitimate means for strengthening national defence. Let every minister of the Gospel preach it from 1 their pulpits. You can talk it in the home, the workshop, at your clubs, and associations; do everything you can to secure your colony's proper defensive protection; have a NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL DAY r and I would suggest to you a movement to inculcate the greatest of all virtues—charity. Your practical help to our navy and our own national defence, by organising a universal; programme whereby your school children, cadets, and citizen soldiers could be camped out throughout the colony that day; all churches agree to give their collections on the Sunday following National Day; every child in your schools gives one penny, every employee one shilling, and employers of labour five shillings, that week for the purpose of establishinga local fund, one-half of which to be devoted to charity, to our navy, and our own national defence. Here is an opportunity, from the child at school to every citizen, to show his or her practical assistance towards charity, England's navy, and our colony's defence, and within the bounds of possibility to raise £20,000. THE MORAL AND PHYSICAL EFFECT OF UNIVERSAL TRAINING. To take our young men, between the ages of 17 and 21 years, and give them a training in discipline, obedience, cleanliness, punctuality, rifle shooting, trains the eye ar.d hand to steadiness and quickness of sight, gymnasium and drill, will give you a strong, vigorous, healthy race of manhood, and the moral and physical effects would be of immense benefit to the nation, and the individual. What parent would object to this. Wha' State is there that shuuld not encourage and carry it out? And if from no oth: ;• standpoint than what I hav} quoted, lbs National League's platform for universal training must commend itself to you. ADVOCATES OF THE LE4GUA'S PROPOSALS. The peopis who are the backbor.e of the colony—your farmers—have only a few weeks ago set their seal in favour of it. f quote the following taken from a Wellington pafer I of July 6th, 1907: —The Press of the colony are unanimous in its approval; Sir Robert Stout, the late Sir John Hall, the , Attorney-General (Dr. Findlay), the Speaker cf the House of Representatives, the Bishops ai:d clergy in New Zealand are strong advocates for it. Your legislators sup • port it, and your Premier is, I believe a member of the National League. Striking testimony for this great national movement. What more do you want?

SCHOOL CADETS. As a means to an end, the drill and "physical culture given to children in the schools throughout the colony is a grand movement and as such our Government and Education Department deserve the highest credit. We desire to carry this good work on for . a period of three years at least, as indicated by the National League's proposals. STATE REWARD FOR COMPULSORY SERVICE. My own views on this matter are as follow:—Knowing that a large percentage of young men that would be serving in the ranks of our universal training movement would be sons of the working classes, and many of them the poorer classes, getting small wages at the period of training, could not afford-to take an annual holiday from their places of residence to the chief places of interest in the colony, I would like to see the State reward each young man after two years' efficient service, with an annual free return pass over the Government railway lines of the colony, available for one month, for each succeeding year's efficient service, limited to say, three o - * four years. This would cost the State nothing except that the Railway Department would debit the Defence Department with the cost of carriage of such; but you would be not only encouraging each young man to serve five or six yeais, but the educational value to young men would be of immense value, and, further, the great tendency for complete harmony between the Government of the day and the youth of the colony, who would be compelled by law to serve their country. TRAINING AND DRILL. My own views on this question are strongly in favour of seven-tenths shooting, three-tenths drill and gymnastics. Gymnasiums should be fitted up in every drill shed in the colony, and the principal winter to building up the body, the summer and autumn and spring to camp, field work, and rifle shooting."