CONSCRIPTION BILL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 May 1939, Page 5

CONSCRIPTION BILL

SECOND READING CARRIED IN COMMONS WIDE-RANGING DISCUSSION. LABOUR PARTY AMENDMENT ' REJECTED. (British Official Wireless.) RHGBY. Alay 8. The .House of Commons tonight gave the second reading to the Compulsory Military Training Bill, which provides for six months' training of men between 20 and 21 years of age. The debate was opened for the Opposition by Captain Wedgwood Benn (Labour), who moved an amendment condemning the Government's grave incompetence in the organisation of the national resources for defence and in its violation of repeated pledges in introducing a measure of conscription. Captain Benn sugested that the additional strength in man power which the measure might afford was a poor make-weight for the strategic advantages lost by the Government’s foreign policy, which he claimed was the real cause of the lack of confidence abroad in British resolution, rather than, as alleged by the Government spokesman, the size of the army. In so far as the Government intended the Bill as a reassurance to foreign Governments which thought in terms of conscription, it was misleading, since it did not provide the millions with which in those countries conscription c was synonymous. - He contended that the voluntary 1 system was far from having failed, and y expressed the fear that the compul- c sory system would only afford an op- c portunity for official muddle and regi- e mentation, without improving on the F practical results which could have . been obtained by intelligent operation 11 of the voluntary system. n t MEETING SPECIAL NEEDS. a Mi] W. S. Morrison, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, replying for the Government, agreed with the Labour spokesman- in thinking that the remarkable character of the achievement of the British voluntary system had been insufficiently appreciated abroad. There had -probably been nothing quite like it in the world, and s the fact ought to be proclaimed. 0 He explained, however, that, magni- u ficent as the results of the voluntary e system were, they did not meet the C special needs of the modern conditions t under which they had a long period i. of tension before war actually broke out which necessitated in peacetime the panning of the defences against the possibility of sudden and unheralded attack. The voluntary system was shaped to deal with a situation based on different assumptions from those actually prevailing. To secure the safety of the country they had to remould the defence system to meet the needs of modern technique of aggression, and the Minister argued that that was the justification E for the measure of conscription now ' introduced. MR CHAMBERLAIN ATTACKED. * The Leader of the Opposition, Mr t C. R. Attlee, said that the Government t had not discharged its obligations and had not shown the military need for conscription. It had not shown that men could not be provided voluntarily. Mr Chamberlain had done all that was possible to break the national unity. He was regarded with suspicion by a large section of the people, and not as a friend of democracy. Conscription would not stop at the present measure; the spectre of industrial conscription loomed behind. In the c name of defending liberty they might c see their liberties- destroyed. f WAR MINISTER SPEAKS. £ Winding up for the Government, the War Minister, Mr L. Hore-Belisha, v said that Labour continually advocated I a stand against aggressors. The Go- v vernment was asking for trained men to make a stand. They had received message after message from abroad reiterating that a measure of conscription would give the hope of assurance that the Government had not adopted an amateurish scheme. No country called up more than one annual class at a time. France’s 1939 class was 141,000 men and Germany’s 230.000. Britain was calling up 200,000 which was 60,000 over the strength of 1 the Regular Army at home. < The Government had no intention of 1 damaging trade union rights. The - issues were not freedom versus com- ] pulsion, which were two principles in- i terwoven throughout the texture of the • national life. By inserting the strand ; of universal service Britain would strengthen her fabric and show a practical form of what the Opposition amenment desired —a resolute determination to take all the necessary steps to defend the country and fulfil the national obligations. The Labour amendment was rejected by the House by 387 votes to 145, and the Bill was read the second time without a division. URGENCY TAKEN PASSAGE OF MILITARY BILLS BEFORE RECESS. TIME FOR FULL DISCUSSION. (British Official Wireless.) ! (Received This Day, 10.35 a.m.) RUGBY, May 9. The Government has decided, in ’ order to ensure the passage of the Compulsory Military Training Bill and the Reserves and Auxiliary Forces Bill ■ into law before the Whitsuntide recess. 1 that it must ask the House of Commons to pass a timetable motion for 1 the committee and remaining stages of ' both Bills. Four days will be allotted ’ for the committee stage of the Military ’ Training Bill—Thursday and Friday cf ; this week and Monday and Tuesday of next week —and the report stage and j the third reading will be taken tomorT row week. This will involve the Gov- ’ ernment taking private members’ time on Friday, but the Premier, when making the announcement, expressed the 1 view that it would permit a full and fair discussion of the measure, the far-reaching importance of which is admitted on both sides of the House.