No conscription

The Conscription Issue has come to the Victoria campus in a small way. Australian and American students at Victoria, for whom conscription for Vietnam is a very real possibility, seem sobered by the prospect.

They express many views when asked their reactions, but one overall point is clear.

Whether or not they support the Vietnam action, they doubt that the use of conscription to bolster the forces there can be justified.

This is strikingly seen in a recent Australian public opinion poll which revealed that 57 per cent of the cross-secton polled did not support the sending of conscript troops to Vietnam.

A plausible case can be made out for the use of conscript troops within New Zealand's territorial limits, even though it is true that this service is militarist, demands considerable sacrifice, and is in one sense a waste of the nation's resources.

But this defensive role is in direct contrast to the offensive nature of the undeclared war in Vietnam.

It can be said with some assurance that were the National Government to go to the country on the issue of conscription for Vietnam—or for the war in Malaysia—or indeed for any war, it would lose the election.

It needs to be made very clear to Mr. Holyoake that this country is in no mood to tolerate conscription for South East Asian theatres of war.

There are good reasons for strengthening this country's forces for a defensive role. But these reasons do not hold when it comes to conscripting this country's youth for a war half a world away.—H.B.R.