OUR MILITARY SYSTEM.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 978, 19 November 1910, Page 10

OUR MILITARY SYSTEM.

• Sir,- It was reported hero' a short time ago that-tho- captain of .-'the .Stratford Mounted Rifles bad recommended to the powers that bo.one.of the.mem-, b'ers of the S.M.R.;.for commission rank. Now, the -member in, question has only been a member of tho - Company for a few short weeks, and has had no previous. experience of a. military nature to warrant such an appointment, nor .has the, aspirant in question been noted for any exceptional ability at the local school when there. , Now, Sir, I would ask Mr.-'.Hine, M.P., who is the captain, and oil . what grounds, ho made such a recommendation. It cannot be on account of any, previous 'military services, as tho young man, or boy, has had none. As I have said before, it cannot bo on account of personal ability, or scholastic attainment. . People here can advance quo reason, and oho or.ly, for this strange conduct on the part ot Mr. Hine in recommending this mere boy of about twenty summers', of no military experience, for commission rank, and that reason is political. If we aro to have ,an effective 'fighting force, that force must-be officered'by the selection of the best brains that forco can produce,, selected by a practical and severe test, .both- as to practical military discipline and knowledgo, besides a good; practical education'; the highest aggregate marks to take priority of appointments. . No applicant to ue appointed until he has served two or three years in, the ranks of the. New Zealand or Australian. forces ,t-and must. be a nativo of those countries, and pure European or Maori, or European and Maori extraction. In Taranaki at tho, present time we hare majors, colonels, and lieutenant-colonels galore; one can scarcely walk along a road or by-lano without running into- a half-dozen ormore, all strutting about, like tlio proverbial crow in full peacock costume, of gold lace, scarlet stripes, and pigsticker. The-only powder. some of tho highest of these grandiloquent officers ever smelt was of.tho last general election, when they were ignomiriiously rejected as tho'Government candidates by the . electors. I believo one of these valiant officers served in the bloodless Parihaka campaign as full private. Well, £hero is no doubt we are making a lovely start with onr new compulsory military, training. . The " officers appointed so far are pretty well all of thei crow-cum-peacock type, and aro better up in: tho strutting gait than in the goose-step. I notice ;, th'at..:Sir,TJosepli Ward.wants to get an English regiment out liere as a model for'our new" forces. Goodness knows, wo have had already ■too much of tho peacock; puff and pipeclay genus; of' soldier. Besides, why select ,oui ..model from the British military system, which is acknowledged by all the highest military authorities of Europe and America to bo the most defective, in the world?'• Tho Boer war convincingly, , confirmed. ..this opinion. Such a policy, is on all _ fours with .Sir Joseph Ward's contributions to tho British Navy, which .is little more than a foreign : navjv as far as, Australia and New Zealand are Concerned. Our money should have gone with that of Australia to build, up a powerful, Australasian navy. '.But to Sir Joseph Ward political ambition is of more importance than thepurity. of tho whito race in the Southern Pacific Ocean. Even the creation of this country into a Dominion was a part of a policy to keep Australia and New Zealand politically senarated,. because, united, they could tall; to John Bull on equal terms. However, destiny . says that ■in tho future they will rise or'fall together.— I am, etc., . '•* - NATIVE-BORN NEW ZEALANDER.