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The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 1888. GENERAL SCHAW'S REPORT.

The reporUof Major-General Schaw upon the Defences of the Colony bears evidence that that officer has gone very fully and carefully into the whole question. It is pleasing to find, upon {he testimony of so distinguished an authority,, that the expenditure incurred m fortifying the four principal ports has produced very satisfactory results, for the General writes.^ 1 ' I cannot refrain from congratulating the colony on the good progress which has been made m providing the needful fortifications and war material, and on the opportunity which is now being embraced of so organising its defence forces as to make full use of the material defences provided. It is specially satisfactory to note that all the new guns which have been received m the colony up to date are already mounted, instead of being left uselessly m store. In this essential .particular of mounted modern guns 'New Zealand holds the first place ajnong the 4u sl * a J a ?J3P colonies." Later on he says, " the compjetjpn of the defences 90 well begun is, however, of urgent Jmpor lance, lest the large sums already spent should prove useless, like an insurance policy whi^h has been allowed to lapse, so that, when the castastrophe arises previous expenditure has been thrown away." As regards the Colonial Forces General Schaw recommends the formation of a Coast Brigade embracing the pi esent Permanent Force and consisting of artillery, and torpedo men, supported by a field force of rifles and mounted infantry, and is of opinion that the pumber of

paid volunteers can be considerably reduced. The strength of the necessary field force, including all arms, he fixes at 2,520, to be divided as follows, viz. —Auckland 698, Wellington, Lyttelton and Dunedin 610 each. These, with * Coast Brigade of 332 of the Permanent Force and 902 Volunteers, would make up a total of 3754 men of ill branches, being the force which is estimated to be required for the detence at the four principal ports. For the minor ports of Nelson, Westporf, Greymouth, Bluff, Oamaru, Timaru, Napier, Gisborne, New Plymouth and Wanganui, the General considers that a total force of 560 Volunteers would suffice, and that these should be honorary volunteers, i.e., not m receipt of capitation. We do not quarrel with his further suggestion that the 3000 cadets, whose capitation is now charged to defence, should be paid out of the Education vote, as it is not a matter of consequence from what precise source the money comes, though we see no advantage to accrue from thu3 changing the mode of charging the expenditure, but we do think thaj, the policy ot disbanding fully half of our present Volunteer force, including nearly all the country corps, which will be the necessary outcome of the adoption of the General's recommendations, is a very misiaken one. True, a saying of so-ne .£12,000 a ye?r may be effected thereby, but it will be a highly unpopular saving, and we venture to think a very unwise one. Our Volunteers are just now getting into a very satisfactory condition of efficiency, and whatever! may be done m the matter of carrying out the recommendations made m regard to the reorganisation of the Permanent Force and the formation of a Coast Brigade, we hope that the Defence Minister will, as regards the Volunteers' other than those of the four ports, be content to leave ♦them untouched — m a word, to leave well alone.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG18880107.2.6

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1734, 7 January 1888, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
587

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 1888. GENERAL SCHAW'S REPORT. Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1734, 7 January 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 1888. GENERAL SCHAW'S REPORT. Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1734, 7 January 1888, Page 2

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