Good Old War !

J.V.T. Baker (the former Government Statistician) in the paper he delivered to the School, argued that New Zealand could stand a very much larger peacetime defence burden than we bear at present. However he admitted that "it is very difficult to see how the necessary economic adjustments could be made under our present system of democratic government when the voters react so adversely, (and often effectively) to economic restraint placed upon them by the Government." Money however is not the only problem. The School was well attended by people from the military who sadly admitted that the armed forces did not have a good public image. Discussion of how this could be improved produced no real answers. One military man said that recruiting had never been worse than at present. It seems that the only real answer to the armed forces problems of scarcity of men and money is a good old war to produce some decent militaristic patriotism. Perhaps the Government should take over from Barry Mitcalfe and take on the French.