DOMINION DEFENCE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2488, 29 April 1909, Page 5

DOMINION DEFENCE.

A NOTABLE SPEECH. [Per Press Association.] MILTON, April 28. At Milton to-night Mr. J. Allen, M.P.,~ addressed a meeting of his constituents on the subject of defence. In the course of- his address .he said that though he had hung on as a volunteer •officer year after year, in the hope that things would better themselves, and that the young men of the country would realise what patriotism really was, lie was now forced into the position that the .whole tiling was on wrong lines, and was a great waste of money. He added that in the_Ota_go district there are supposed to "Tie 4730 officers, non-commissioned officers and men, and yet at the last Easter encampment the attendance was only 1414 (including 307 cadets), Mr. Allen advocates universal training, where everybody shall give something, at any rate, of his time and of his ability to the service of his country. Nothing, he says, is further from his mind than the hug : bear of conscription. What he urges is a system that has been tried eleswhero, and which has proved itself, to a very large extent, a ? access. He docs not believe, that this national training should end at 21 years. -He would begin with the cadet 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 to be such -a force ready to take arms that even the mod powerful nation approximate to us would hesitate to come into conflict with us. We could not shirk this responsibility, and avc could mot make prep a ratio it in a day. The Australians, he contended, .were going on right lines generally in the matter of defence; and they •were backed up by expert opinion as expressed at the Colonial Conference. Mr. Allen was thanked for his address, and the meeting carried a resolution in favor of un i versa! training, both for military and naval defence.