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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 30, No. 4. 1967.

Phipps on defence

Phipps on defence

The man who planned our present system of compulsory military training, Rear-Admiral Sir Peter Phipps, does not consider it satisfactory.

Speaking to students recently. Sir Peter said. "The volunteer system has been proved inefficient three times in the last 50 years. Universal compulsory training is too expensive and unwieldy to organise. The present system is, in my view, the only other possibility. But I cannot honestly say it is anywhere near perfect."

Sir Peter avoided the subject of conscientious objection by saying that it was the sphere of the Labour Department.

Asked about the legitimacy of demanding military service from people ineligible to vote, he pointed out. "Servicemen do not go into active service before reaching the age of 21, so this Is irrelevant" He viewed the conscription of university students as "necessary to keep a balance in the forces," not a waste of talent which would be more valuably used in other fields.