DEFENCE COMMISSION.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16150, 2 March 1918, Page 5

DEFENCE COMMISSION.

CHRISTCH V RCH SITTINGS. VESTKRDAY'S PKOCKKDIXGS. Tlio J). I'pnce Enquiiy C'ommisiion resumed its*sittings in Christchurch yesterday, the members being BrigadierGeneral Sir Robert Anderson (chairman) and Messrs Charles Rhodes and rotor Bstrr. Captain IX AI. Robertson, Assistant Adjutant-General for tho Canterbury district, said lie had had twelve years' service. The A.A.G. branch was largely a legal one, now dealing with regulations, court-martials, etc. It was practically impossible to keep in touch with, the enormous number of instructions, etc., issued by Headquarters. Ho was lirmly of«opimon that if the administration of the Military Service Act were do- < entralised, greater efficiency and economy would result, and lw> felt certain tliero would be a better feeling in-tho public mind. Reservists were . being dealt -with by several Iliads <>r portions of the rc-cruilitig branch. In addition to" the Recruiting Office and the Group Commander, a third party crept in. This was the attesting officer. He was not a group man, but a District Headquarters man. Tf the whole responsibility for tho calling tu> and disposing of a man prior to his going into camp -was handed over to tho Group Commander, it would first of ail result in a reduction_of the correspondence by at least 75 per cent. After a man was called up for medical examination, which was done by the Group Comiijtmder, he proceeded before th© attesting officer who sent the originals nf the man's papers to Wellington and the duplicates to the Group Commander. For (some unknown reason, a large number of those forms wero lost in transit, and he (witness) was safe in saying that District; Headquarters received sometimes one hundred memos a week asking them to trace forms. Alter attestation tho papers should be handed direct to the Group Commander, who would be able to check every case, and there would be no fear of tho papers being lest.. District Headquarters frequently sent instructions to Group Commanders which had already been forwarded to the Group Commanders by General Headquarters. This was done for fear that General Headquarters had not forwarded them to group officers. The chairman: That must cost a large sum. duplication of wo k. Witness: It must cost an enormous »um. Tn the course of further remarks, witness declared that if the system were decentralised he felt satisfied that fully 75 per cent, of the Director of Recruiting's staff would bo out of work. THE ACT AND THE PUBLIC. Tho chairman: Is there any section of the cc/mniunitv aggrieved by the Military Service Act? It seems to be working very smoothly. Witness: The system at the present time is working more or less smoothly. The chairman: From the outsile point of view? Witness: There is no doubt about it that there is a very big proportion of the public up against the administration or administering of the Act. A large part of it is personal. The chairman: It is a pity some of them don't give evidence, because we

would -get their point of view at any rate.

Witness: Wo had an enquiry 10eeutly, and the report was that most of the complaints were frivolous. Mr Ban - : You say 100 or 200 files of recruits go astray. How is that possible? lioiv do they go astray.'' Witness: They 540 astray, in |; -y opinion, actually iu the office 01 the Director of Recruiting. Mr Burr: How many enquiries do you get in a \vcek'r Witness: Oa, roughly, 60 or 70. •AX INVOLVED PROCEEDING. Captain Robertson gave one instance of the present svstem: If a. reservist applied for it and could produce sufficient new evidence, ho could secure a medical re-exaniinatiim. When he applied he submitted copies of the new medical certificates to ilie group commanders. who sent theiu to the Director of Recruiting. That officer fi.-.l them recorded, and then forwarded them to District Headquarters. Thev then went to the Assistaut-Director of Medical Services, who was in the town all the time, who certified whether U'o applicant should be re-examined or not. Then the papers went bad; to the group commander. Continuing. Captain Robertson contended that most of the difficulties were due to the mass of requisitions which could be kept within reasonable bound*, and to centralisation_a number of the instructions received appeared to he unnecessary. Pie suggested the interchange of officers between Headquarters and the districts. This might give the officers at Headquarters some idea of the difficulties that had to be encountered, and what was required. The Director of | Recruiting had only been in tjic South Island twice, and never then for more than 24 hours. He could not therefore appreciate local conditions. FRICTION WITH RAILWAY DEPARTMENT. .Major A. E. Conway, commander of No. \j group for the past livo months, said lie had had twelve years' service. He considered the basis of iho present recruiting system was all rignt, but its working could be considerably unproved. Ho agreed with Captain Robertson that when a man was ballotted he should bo dealt with by tho group commander. All the tiles after u man was disposed of as unfit were sent to Wellington, ami as a, result . when people came to the group office for information, they had to be sent away dissatisfied, ancl that, 110 believed, was the causo of much of the discontent existing in the minds of the public. Witness complained of friction with the llailway Department; there appeared to be no cohesion, botween the two departments. A recruit would have a warrant for a ticket made out between a certain station and Christchurch, but would board the train at another place, and the guard would refuse to recognise the warrant. _ The chairman suggested that the station of departure stiould be loft in blank. - Witness considered that tho guard should be allowed to accept the ticket. The chainpan: Perhaps they arc guarded by "regulations, too? Witness stated that a recruit, owing, perhaps, to his wife being ill, or some other cause, might not be able to travel *to the concentration parade on the day ho was ordered. If he did not use the railway warrant on tthe date stated in it, the Railway Department refused to recognise it. To guard against this he had left the datos out. A group commander was empowered to issue a warrant for the arrest of a man who failed to proceed to camp, but he possessed no power to issuo a warrant for the arrest -of a man who failed to attend a medical examination. He had-to report to the Director of Personal Services in Wellington, and delays, .as a result, sometimes lasted for eight months. Even if he knew a man was going to clear out he had no power to issue a warrant for his arrest. Ho thought the reason for the delay in the issue of warrants was: because the Recruiting Office was too much overworked. REFERRED BACK. Referring to the Territorial side of liis work, witness complained of tho number of times a requisition was ret ferred back by tho ordnance officers. Chairman: Are they vital or trivial? Witness: Sometimes .vital, sometimes trivial. Sir Robert Anderson stated that the ordnance officer in his evidence the day before had said lie had no complaints to make; everything in the garden was lovely. . Witness. said a requistion would be referred back because its humber had not been put in. This would bo remedied, and then back again would come the requisition with a request for some other amendment. The chairman: They simply look for one mistako at a time, and look for another.the next time? Witness: Yes. Sometimes requisitions have gone back threo or four times just to have alterations made. Witness added that last October he requisitioned for pigeon-holes for keeping soldiers' personal files, they having to bo stacked on the floor. He had not received them yet. A TERRITORIAL SCHEME. Major W. C. Morrison, General Staff Officer for Canterbury, said he had had eighteen years' service. Ho had had no difficulty in securing everything lie wanted. One of his particular duties was tho training of Territorials and Cadets in the district. He could not say he was interfered with at all in this respect by General Headquarters in Wellington. His opinion, and it was based on some experience, was that New Zealand was not getting anything like the value in efficiency from its Territorial Force in comparison with the money spent on it. Under tho

present, scheme New Zealand was getting only one-third of tho m-ults for the money expended. The chairman: You only 8d for every £1 expended ? '. Witness: Yes, that is what it means. Continuing, witness stated that tho officer commanding the district and he had prepared a scheme for after the war, which they had placed before Headquarters. It provided for the-fol-lowing:— (1) Retention of present Territorial organisation of units. .('J) Retention of Territorial officers and non-commissioned officers 011 a voluntary ba.sis. (3) "Drafting of serving Territorials and returned fit Territorials from the front to a reserve of their respective rinits. all such Territorial reservists to l;e cta-:silicd every year, according to The establishment of a central training depot in <\ery district to which all Senior Cailetr, upon reaching a certain age cell Id he trained for sixteen weeks. That was the gist of the whole thing, the providing of tin annual training camp for training reinforcements to the Territorial forces every year. These fads could bo taken before they l.Mt reached civilian life, say, at the ;io;e ol ,17. After training for four or six months they could be placed upon the reserves of their respective units. They would be trained soldiers, and there would be no need to provide equipment or to <10 to other expense over them. (o) Upon tho completion of his training a lad to be placed in his reserve unit. From this one would secure the officers and n.c.o.'s. CO) Upon mobilisation being ordered sufficient classes of the Reserve to be called up to complete tho establishment. (7) Thero to be 110 training in the Territorial Reserve except in the case of officers and n.c.o.'s, or n periodical test mobilisation of units. Witness said he was very much of opinion that three or four months' training of the kind ho had described, in addition to the Cadet training, would ho sufficient,. Such a system as that would give infinitely greater value than tho present scheme If Avar broke out these men wtnild bo already trained, and possihlv only another month in camp would bo required to put on the finishing touch. DELAY COSTS MONEY. Lieutenant A. G. Macdonald, Assist-ant-Director of Supplies and Transport, • said ho had had 14 yours' service. liet;tatod that the system of securing supplies for camp did not, permit of much checking, and ho thought a simpler and mora effective system could bo adopted. More reciprocity could exist between the Supply and Transport officers in the various districts during the camp periods, l'or instance, when he was in Auckland, they had to pay £3 a ton for ctiaif, whcieas it_could be secured in Canterbury for £0. Recently he saw that carbide, which was required by tho Depoitment, was going to become scarce. He obtained a quotation of £30 a ton. Ho referred the matter to Wellington, it was delayed for a month, and in the meantime it went np to £60 a ton That was in November. Captain White (recalled), in answer to the chairman, stated that if there were errors in a requisition the total number would be notified to the person making same, and not one requisition at a time. If such were notdone it would be due to an oversight. Only a certain nuns>er of pigeon holes were allowed for a group olfice, and if more than the allotted number wero required, authority had to be obtained from Wellington. In the case of the Christcliurch office's application, s.-.ch authority had not yet come from Wellington, and witness had notified Major Conway of this fact on several occasions. Major Conway, resuming his evidence. said that the war would probably ho over before the pigeon-holes arrived. The estimated cost was from £3 to £3 12s 6d.\ The chairman: £3! Then all this trouble is over £3?. Continuing, witness said he had requisitioned for ten rubber stamps, the use of which would save a lot of time. They cost about one shilling each. He had been advised that theso could not he supplied. Recently n returned soldier was wrongly drawn in a ballot. He did not object, and was passed as fit. He applied for an extension of leave in'order to look after a, crop of potatoes which were

threatened with blight. The Recruiting Office told him that his application was under consideration, but )>e must leave for camp in the meantime on Monday. Applications for leave had to bo dealt with by a Military Service Board, and until its decision was made a soldier had , v to remain in camp. A group commander was not allowed to give such leave. CUMBERSOME REGULATIONS. Captain S. M. McGee, paymaster for tlio Canterbury, district, with 33 years' service, 17 of them with the Department, said he found the regulations overwhelmingly cumbersome. Two years ago the district paymasters in "conference had cut the regulations down by half, but their suggestions so far as he knew, had never been adopted. He considered that in some cases there was over-lapping at Wellington. Ho considered the soldiers' pay-book was quite satisfactory if it were properly written up. Major R. S. Matthews gave further evidence. Last July, he said, the District Headquarters Office had put in a requisition for certain necessary chairs and tables, but had secured no reply yet from the Equipment and Ordnance Stores. "Witness also expressed complaints in reference to the motor service, equipment of camps and barracks, and the signing of vouchers. •The Commission at this stage. rejourned till 10 o'clock this morning. This afternoon the members will proceed to Hanmer Springs to enquire into certain matters there'which come within the scope of the' enquiry. By a typographical error Major Matthews, in his evidence before the Commission on Thursday, was Btated to have said that through a rise in the price of material he was afraid the cost of connecting the drill hall at Westport .with a drainage system would be more than £80 above the price previously quoted. What lie aid say was that he was afraid the price .would be now more than £80, the price previously quoted. Professor J. Y. Simpson, in the "Nineteenth Century," tells a curious story of Bismarck's visit to London upon his appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1862. Baron Brunow, the Russian Ambassador, gave a dinner in his honour, to which Gladstone was invited, as also Disraeli, leader of the Opposition. After dinner there was a general conversation, but Bismarck set himself alongside of Disraeli and talked with him for the matter of half an hour. Later in the evening Disraeli came up toSabouroff and said, ''What an extraordinary man. Bismarck is! He meets mo for the first time and tells me all he is going to do. Ho will attack Denmark in order to get possession of Scftleswig-Holstein; ho will put Austria out of the_German Confederation; and then he will attack France —an extraordinary man." "Evidently," continued M. Sabouroff, in narrating this incident to the writer, "Bismarck had the whole plantalread;' in his head."