OUR DEFENCE FORCES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 864, 9 July 1910, Page 6

OUR DEFENCE FORCES.

COiMPULSORY TRAINING. AGE TO BE INCREASED TO 25 YEARS. NEW BOABD 01'' APPEAL. Tlio Defence Act Amendment Bill, which was brought down in the House yesterday, provides that the Governor may appoint an ollicer to bo commandant of the defence forces who shall be responsible for the organisation, discipline, training, and eilicicncy of the forces, and may also appoint such stalf as may lie necessary to assist tho commandant.

Section 12 of the principal Act which provides for. the establishment of a Council of Defence is repealed and all •references in that Act to the Council of Defence shall, except as specially provided for by this Act, be deemed to be references to the commandant, or if there be 110 commandant, then to the ollicer appointed to act for him. As regards tho complement of force to be made up'from general training section, the method of transfer is aftered by the deletion of the words "cither by ballot or." With reference to tho training of the territorial force, the following new provision is inserted in pl?ce of Sub-Section 3 of Section 25:

"Every member of the Territorial Forco shall, on obtaining the ago of 25 years, be drafted in tho prescribed manner into the reserve provided that on application any officer, .warrant officer, or sergeant may, if approved, be permitted to continue in the Territorial Force, but not beyond tho age for retirement prescribed for the rank of the time being held by him."

Extension of Compulsory System. "Under the new Bill males between 13 years of age, or from any later date on which they cease to attend a secondary school until they reach the age of 2o years, shall bo liable to be trained in the general training section of the Territorial Force in the case' of their transfer to tliat force, and males between 25 years to 30 years are liable to be trained in the reserve.

The Minister for Education, it is further provided, may, at the reouest of Hie controlling authority, take, over the control of the boy scouts or any of them who are not junior cadets, and "hen so taken over they shall form, a separate branch of the junior cadets, and be known as the "scout cadets," and be subject to the provisions of the piincipal Act. so. far as they relate to 4 the junior cadets, except that the restrictions as to age limit shall not apply to scout cadets, and scout cadets ma\ continue, as such until they attain the age of 18 years or cease to attend a secondary school, whichever is later.

Training of Cadets. The amount of training of the scout cadets shall be- equivalent to that fixed for the senior cadets and shall be as prescribed by' regulations and all scout cadets on attaining the age of 18 years oi any later date on which they cease to attend a secondary school shall .be drafted m the manner prescribed info the general training section. In regard to the training of the senior cadets a section which provided t' l3 * in each year ending the last day of February it should iint cxcc?d six whole day drills, 12 half-day drills, and -4 •night drills, or their equivalents, is to bo repealed and it is proposed that' the compulsory training, in this section shall not oxcced 64 . hours yearly. ■ Section 41_of the present Act relating to the training of the general traiiiinS scctioii has been it-mended in several directions consequent upon the pro-posed extension of the period Of compulsory sen-ice to 2o years.

Board of Appeal. x Except in time of war, when any ofheer .or non-commissioned officer is dismissed ]io is to liavo the right of "r? 1 ' 0 ?' t* 0 n ''oard, consisting of tlio Uwef Justice, or some other judge of tile Supreme Court appointed by tho Chief Justice, who shall be the president of the board; and two officers of a rank not lower than that of colonel. The Governor may from time to time, by Order-iii-Council, make regulations prescribing the procedure for ' an appeal before the board. This section is to extend and apply to all dismissals made during the twelve months preceding the passing of the' Act as well as to subsequent dismissals. ' Section o9 of the Act of 1908 is amended by repealing Subsection 2, and substituting the _ following"The capitation allowance in respect of each member snail be paid to the officer commanding the corps to which tho member belongs and shall be held by that officer as the property of the corps, and anolied in defraying such incidental expenses' of the corps as are authorised by regulations." Accounts of corps arc to bo audited by tho audit office