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Salient: An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 11, No. 10, August 18th, 1948

[Introduction]

As Mr. Milburn said in introducing the first motion of the evening at a Special General Meeting called on 3rd August, the proposal moved by the Minister of Defence to conscript the youth of the nation for military purposes, posed a question of the greatest importance to students. And obviously the students were well aware of the fact. They see conscription as a menace to their University Education and as part of a widespread attempt to stampede the world into another war. So they expressed their opinion very forcibly by rejecting all compromises and carrying by more than 2 to 1, a motion that, "This meeting of the Victoria University College Students' Association strongly disapproves of any proposal for the conscription of youth for military purposes in peacetime."

The Problem vitally affected the younger students, especially the 18-year-olds, who were directly concerned, and had no say in the determination of their future, said Mr. Milburn. The only thing he had learned from his own experience of military training was the underlying fact that "the grosser side of life has its pleasures." The argument that military training did a world of good to young men was completely eclipsed by these negative aspects.