THE VOLUNTEER BUNGLE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2483, 23 April 1909, Page 6

THE VOLUNTEER BUNGLE.

Half-starved soldiers would he of very little value as) a fighting force, and hungry volunteers would not be in a* mood to • learn the most valuable lessons from the manoeuvres. If the Government merit really expects the volunteers to become an efficient defence force they must, show that they appreciate the sacrifice the men are prepared to make in the defence of 1-heir country. Better transport arrangements and a commissariat which will provide- sufficient supplies for'hardworkotl,-hungry men are absolutely necessary, •If the volunteers are to do their part needless obstacles must not be thrown, in their way, and they should not be handicapped by bad transport arrangements and insufficient food supplies.—Timaru -“Post.” “IN COMMON HONESTY.” “In. common honesty to the country,” will Sir Joseph Ward tell us whether tho pledges given to the settlers by the founders of the line are to lie kept, or whether the Lawroncc-Roxburgh Railway is to bo decisively and finally abandoned in favor of the extension from Edievale, or the line from Heriot? There is a suspicion abroad, which finds food in the known predilections of the Premier -and the undisguised jubilation of the Invercargill politicians., that the present Government desire ‘to deflect the trade of the chief fruit-growing district of OJago from Dunedin to the metropolis of Southland. If such suspicion turns out to be a correct • anticipation of the railway policy of the Government', what, “in common honesty to the country,” must be. done with the authors of the -reports which declared that, on the score of practicability and economy, the route .front Lawrence wa.s the best of; the threer And if, to back up their designs, the. JjAimr nine tit of. the day can obtain