ARMS AND MEN.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 698, 24 December 1909, Page 8

ARMS AND MEN.

, •-« ■ OUR DEFENCE FORCES. . AN. INTERESTING REPORT. . Rather late iu-the day/ after, tho Defence Estimates havo been passed,, and a new Bill, completely changing tho aspect of . national defence in. New Zealand, jias boon put through all its stages in the Legislature, comes, the annual report of the Defonoe Department, for the year ended February 28, 1909. Thero is, however, much that is of interest in this belated review of the year's progress in military affairs, the main points of which may bo summarised as follow:— , The. Defence Council's Review. ' lir a statement of policy, the Council of Defence. mentions that "the question,of the establishment of a.school of instruction on the lines of that'at Kingston, Canada, has been'discussed, and found to bo too great an expense.' Communications have., been riiad©. with- the Commonwealth with. the objcct that, should' they. establish' a school, it might bo. open to Now .Zealand students. • • , "Regiments aud battalions of the field force require further organisation on a peace, and war establishment, : with. a permanent adjutant and a sufficicucy of non-commissioned oraoers as administrators and instructors to each. The annual : saving in- losses, damage to rules and equipment, -viould go faT-to repay the cost# ito say nothing of the increased the regiments and battalions composed of four to ten squadrons or companies.,, each squadion. or oompany being governed by. separate, committees disposing of their oapitation and grants, in so many different ways, the necessary administration atid discipline cannot be ouVery significant are the figurss setting,forth, the attendance of the volunteers at. the. lastEaster encampments in the five military, dis-tricts.-They are as follow:—> ~ Auckland, 959, or 33 per cent, of strength. '. Wellington, ,1788, or 50 per cent, of strength. Nelson, 572, or 40 per cent, of strength. Canterbury, 1150, or 5G per cent, of strength. Otago, 1120, or 40 per; cent, ofvstrength. ■' Opportunity was ./given to riflo clubs to put in the greater, part of two, days; but,, except in the Wellington district,'where 77 attended,, no others' mustered, and in many, cases did not even reply to" tho:: district commander s circular 1 asking for information as to-num-. bers likely.'to attend. .... •' : "The, standard of officers' examinations has been maintained," states the report.. "The passes obtained and quality of many of the solutions of the questions-and l*roblems were satisfactory.; One hundred and seventy officers presented themselves . for examination , during the year, fifteen • partially failed, and three failed; The percentage of passes in 1907 was . 80.09; in 1908,. 86.90;, and in 1909,. 89.41." ..- ; ,

Comments by the Inspector-General. •.•:' Embodied' in the report; isVan extract from the report of the Inspector-General (Colonel R. H. Davies, ; C.B.), in which tlie following points are noted; '■ •_ ,•■ '. '•! "The total .attendance ,at the various Easter camps in the Dominion for -the- field force-' was 4545 all ranks (or about 150 fewer, thrfn the year before), and 1-i am quite s confident • that I am well within tho. mark in saying that no more than a total of 5000>"officers. and men of: the held force, have: done:.any.work in. tho, field in daylight 'during .the year. , '••. '/' . "As to efficiency, the Garrison Artillery has reached a most .'satisfactory' state all -round, and all ranks aro most keen and "determined to maintain this high -standard.,' Tho, shqotinf} has been good everywhere, anil in several cases excellent—in. fact,' there has' l been a, steady; and. continuous;improvement for the past five years. Tho physique: in sovcral corps is much above the average r ,of' the,'.volunteer force, 'and' tho .discipline throughout:-'is,;entirely /satisfactory. Tho Electric-,Light: Company in. Wellington (No. 3) has worked ~ exceedingly, well. It i? , composed'-. of;. mcn:l of *r fine : ,stamp,who .have generally something to do ; ,with engineering in their private 5 occupations, and who aro tho-, roughly,. in earnest,and will do well. This :is,'.to be converted-.into a . gunnery', 'company,, .with, its Vown, E.L. Section. ' Each gunnery, company... in l ; the* force/will have/in future, ;,br already,^jhiis,. its own E.L". Section as. part ', 'of . its .'.company: establishment. 1 "The' stato of,.batteries, is', generally, very-, sat-! isfactory, arid/their J'shppting/; at their annual practice is generally .improving, and producing ?ood results. ; Considering the' very few opporunities: they , get.' for ' work, in /the .field, ~great; credit is-.duo. ,to /all 'ranks for tlieir .present, fctate : of. efficiency. 'Some of'/the: batteries are ; jVo)ty' : i: much";handicapped .<by'v'the, 'unsuitable'. ■ horses! they get' for/their/jwork,'."especially< the Dunedin battery./ /With': untrained,: often illbroken' horses/1 unaccustomed to 'tlie/, battery 'harness and' the' work,, and with a number of 'the- drivers arid . men - only accustomed to handling Horses >6r" riding i/w,hile at drill. or training. the. ; results are very' creditable indeed to; tho batteries'; but it is. a 'wonder.' there are. not more/serious accidents to both men and horses. . If /a '-few, horses were :kept for' artillery ' and : transport work; at' each district •headquarters, or if .the batterios always, had at their/cplP the. U6C of suitable liorsos and. the same horses/ for training purposes,/ tho ' in-creased-efficiency, ::in . riding,-,. driving;! -.'and manoeuvring .would soon' be apparent..AH ranks vin a ; field .battery—officers,' • N.C.O.s, gun-layers.',. drivers, ; . etc.—reouire .• a". great '.amount/, of /training; in: the field,. in 1 order' that they may, gain/ a knowledge; of country, know the.bost- positions to 'occupy, the best, way; to get their i gun's /into' those, positions,-: may be able' to pick; up, quickly and/know; at-.oneethe' best method' of dealing', with the various diK ' scriptions of.! targets •.' (especially ' moving .ones) that they would.' have "to": tire , at. aitd iiiay thoroughly understand' their /duties in co-opera-tion with '.other,;arms;,and. they' are. certainly not able to/ accomplish . this l in : the time'now at"their disposall" >■/,, ■'.i ; ,"The. : Instructor for ' Simailing and I'iEiiJti. 1 neering Services.' has/now-' four ; N.C.O.'s of tho Permanent ;Force, (ono -for .each company, of field engineers) ;to - assist, him in his ' duties, 'and there is every- reason .to.expect tl\at rapid ..improvement/; will;/'result.,.in,. .all'"daises , of work, /which ,it is . possible- for . these, corps tq }earn iu. the time land .with'" the opportunities at their ' disposal, especially : tho field and. "signalling sections. ./: Indeed, >1 am ; sure there has been improvement, in tlieso sections., It: is quite impossible to train the ..field engi. neering . sections'. iii tho use of . .ground.../ the knowledge of tho best positions.to occupy, and | the most , offe'ctive means of doing/so, unless ,th«y • ceu get'/: much •. more training' in. the field than vthey- 'do :at present,' and' what is required :is knowledge of what'is knowq as the 'tactical,use,of the.spade.-,: •, "In: turn-out;, neatness, £Uid general -'uniformity .of appearance: of" the inen and - horses com-" posing the squadrens, . and therefero • of tho .squadrons, -and 'therefore "of'the' squadron as a whole, there is , no doubt whatover : that, j taken all round (though" there are very .notable exceptions in'.both 1 : islands),', the South • Island' is ahead of the North."—Note,- on tho condition of tho New Zealand Mounted'lnfantry,'. "In the.majority of oases irifantrv. battalions drill well enough', for; all practical ; purposes. •With the . exception, of .'the Easter camp that I attended (Oringi) I have had no fault to find with the discipline atmy inspections.' and I- have'.found" on .all -occasions all ranks; most, i keen and anxious to, learn their work in the field. On a number of occasions I have been ' most agreeably- surprised at the state of, efficiency they; have attained and the aptihujo they have 1 shown : in ' the field considering ,; the .very limited opportunities' they have ,of. learning and practising. . ■ This / proves' clearly i whiit could be done if only they.cdold get a reason-' able period" of continuous training: iU'i:the field under: efficient instructors. ■;; I 'muoh regret to have to. add that/the men: now" enrolling in the town corps generally are much younger "than "-was,.the' case; formerly," and that the physique is undoubtedly not as good'as it was." It is so noticeable,that I have often heard it. referred te .by/the general public. Until, re-' cently the regulations' provided that the/ Infantry should, in /order to earn capitation.-en, camp by-battalions tor-companies for ;at"least six.days, or, rather, nights. As the men.all went, to their ordinai-y work during: the; day and only drilled in the evening, and in-some cases the morning also, it was', considered .that the camps : : were net' wprth' the expenditure, and they were discontinued. . '.There, is' : no; doubt that as' regards the/amount of 'fieldwork done they wero; practically worthless, but they/did oertamly afford the'officers an opportnniw of disciplining-;and drilling ;• their • commands. which they cannot new obtain, and also/gave all ranks a chance,of learning camp routine, and dutios" which ,they do not now get. Tho Infantry have now no training camp at ■ all—indeed, they , need never sldep under canvas; and the effect of this must be - to mako' it' much- more, difficult to obtain order ; and discipline/amongst, those who do attend such camps as'arc held at Easter. > :