DEFENCE NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 793, 16 April 1910, Page 12

DEFENCE NOTES.

(Br EoniLOHJ The following paragraph appeared in a recent issue of the. Aldershot "Military Mail":— "The Hendon and Gricklewood Eifle Club recently fired a 'postal' match with the New Zealand Rifle Club, and the targets, which have just reached tho London club, prove that they havo defeated the colonials by scoring 991 out of a possible 1000 points, compared with New Zealand's 984." As local shooting men appear to have no knowledge of this particular match, some ampilffcation of the announcement will bo welcome. ' It has been decided by the British Army Council that where the services of a regular non-commissioned officer aTe not available, a General Officer Com-manding-in-Chief may appoint a serving Territorial soldier as temporary drill instructor, with pay at the rate laid down in the Territorial Regulations.

According to the special military contributor of the Alderehot "Military Mail," there is at present a strong feeling in the minds of many high officials in Whitehall that some day in the near future Lord Kitchener will walk into the building and take his seat in the chair of tho Chief of. the General .Staff. This feeling is quietly gaining ground. There is no disguising the fact that he is badly wanted at Home, and there are many who will gladly welcome him as an organiser, of defence for the Motherland, when he has completed his great task of organising .the defence forces of Greater Britain. •

Some highly important changes are in contemplation with regard to the length of. time which regular units serve abroad (states the "Military Mail"). The branohee of the Quarter-Master General's Directorate at the War Office chiefly responsible for moving' units .to foreign stations have been busily engaged in compiling tabulated statements of foreign service for some weeks past, and the whole of these statements nave been laid before a War Office Committee, with a view to framing.a report for the consideration of the Army Council. The usual period of foreign service for infantry units has been from 16 to 18 years for a long time past, but years ago it was cut down to 10 and 12 years for some reason or another. ■ It ris- almost a certainty that the committee will recommend the adopho? "1 n fears'foreign service in future, and there _ are rumours, which tend to couJirm this statement, to the effect that certain colonial units should exchange duties with Imperial troops. This would only be giving effect to suggestions placed betore the Imperial Defence Conference by some of the colonial Premiers, suggestions which were favourably received by the General Staff in the War Office

A recent order by the Imperial Army tounetf,. concerning the training of noncommissioned officers and men in mapreading, calls attention to the fact that T l3 i 1! ? ot Poetised so assiduously as it should be It is interesting to compare, in connection with this subject, the numl bers of the British and German' Topographical Sections at the War Offices in London- and Berlin ' These sections are responsible for the issue of .maps to the troops, and for the preparation of map 3 for military purposes. The Topographical Section of the General Staff in Whitehall is. composed of nine officers, four non-commissioned officers of the Royal 1-ngmeers,. and 36 civilians. The German purvey Department, which is a branch of the great General Staff in Berlin,, is composed of 18 officers, 40 attached officers, who serve for a year or more at headquarters, and are trained in General btatt topographical duties, and 290 civilians, of whom 120 are surveyors and draughtsmen, 40 engravers, photographers, etc., 26 clerks, and 20 messengers, porters, etc. The department is divided into three sections, and the annual cost of this establishment is about .£63,000. The cost of the Briitsh Topographical bection is hardly- a tenth of this amount.

One of the practical results of the commission appointed to inquire into ' the held medical arrangements and organisation during the Boer War was the establishment of the School of Army Sanitation at Aldershot, founded by Colonel K. H. lirth, of the Eoyal'Army Medical Corps. Tho recent departure of that officer fol service in India serves to bring before the public some account of the- developments which have been made in sanitary science as applied to tho requirements of the British Army. The School of Army Sanitation came into existence as the result of the commission appointed to inquire into tho medical arrangements and organisation existing it the time of the South African War. The appalling death-rate among our troops in the field, due directly to preventive disease, and the enormous number of cases, of sickness duo to tho samo cause, caused some searching of hearts anion" those in authority. The losses during the war. were in the proportion of seven deaths from disease to every death caused by enemy, whilst the proportion of sick caused by disease and wounds were at respectively about 8 to 1. Colonel Hill Climo computed that 63,644 men were invalided home by disease to 8,221 invalided by wounds. Eighty per cent. ,of the sickness was due to infectious diseases, mostly, typhoid, fever. In the two.years of the campaign no. fewer than 2i,000 cases of dysentery and 31,000 cases of typhoid or enteric fever occurred among the British troops, and the horror of this statement lies in the fact that ignorance, carelessness, and,utter lack of precautions were responsible for the great majority of all that suffering and death. Sanitary measures in the field were neglected or carried out in ,a ■ perfunctory manner, whilst the haphazard nature of the water supply was also a contributory factor to this awful result. But the proportions of deaths and sickness fTOiri disease and , wounds were after all much on a par with those laid down by Longmore's Tables, compiled from the results of the wars of the past 200 years, and were accepted with resignation and regret. ■

Then camo the Russo-Japanese War, and the Japanese electrified the whole civilised world by practically demonstrating that war could bo carried on under conditions most favourable to disease with-, out incurring those great losses duo' to preventiblo disease which had been accepted as inevitable by European military authorities. Then it was that steps were taken by the British military authorities, steps advocated long years ago by able medical 'officers, to give some sort of training in sanitary science to tho British Army, and the School of Army Sanitation was established at Aldershot. Much good has resnltcd, but the results achieved so far, however, good as. they are, are incomparably small with what has yet to bo accomplished if the next army England places in the field-is to be safeguarded against tho greatest of all foes—disease... To mako tho work of the sanitary officers really efficacious, needs the education of every soldier in elementary sanitary matters, and, a rigid enforcement of sanitary orders. The establishment of a similar School of Army Sanitation in every garrison town and military centre would go some way towards furthering the spread of this most beneficial knowledge, whilst the battle against preventible disease could be better waged by the provision of one of tho new portable water sterilizers for every three or four thousand men engaged in. the field.