DEFENCE NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 990, 3 December 1910, Page 9

DEFENCE NOTES.

——« — ' [Edited By Echelon.] - 5 WEST POINT: A NATIONAL INFLUENCE. NOTES FJROM THE COMMONWEALTIL .i; f A nc\v weapon lias just been issued.t ,H s to the German Lancer regiments. •It'is' ; ....v j of steel tubing and 'fitted about . j _ four inches irom tho point with a'spheric- " j al projection which prevents it' from . j penetrating too deeply into the mark. V. Xlns js to aid the lancer'in extricating ' s Jus weapon with the rapidity .necessary. . - 1 to continue his career. At present most of the-horses required--1 ~r Australian Field Artillery -are - , lured, as they are in Now Zealand. The< system is expensive, costingrabout <£37,513 per annum. It is in consequence of this . • expense, and owing also to;other disadvantages, of the system, that a board; has. - e been appointed, with Lieutenant-Colonel' l •- I 1 if * Johnston, V.D., A.i\A.,".as-presi-dent, to draw up a scheme- for-the ' chase and maintenance of horses for itho' artillery. For \ the A.F.A. batteries 1285/ horses are required, and flic.estimate- of, the expenditure for their purchase and' /' maintenance is .£02,000. . - • *\ inior cadet officers ••'in--:.'.'.-K'ew..'SoutH - \\ales—principally school'teachers-corn-, • y plain that tuey are debarred from* b&<- ' 0 coming area olhcers. In reply'to a riue& '}■:[ e 111 the Federal Senate on this point,- .' y. the Minister in charge of tho. Dep'arts ment stated that as far as the 'Department V 0 M* as M a^. 10 • junior cadet officers in i\ 7 e\r * oouth Wales were- not bebarred fromrapPjyipg for positions as area officers.'. The Minister "knew nothing of "the allegation.' • J applications from'the said .officers ;V c .vrero pigeonholed in Sydney, and .hot'Sciit" - r r on •to headquarters at -Melbourne. j. As now constituted, " _ fence Committee, in addition -to.J.'thof Prime Minister, six of liis colleagues .ia'tlie Cabinet, and Lord Esher." consistV'of; ;., ; the' following: expert memlxirs: 6 - ;■ ; ' 1- Military: Gen. Sir ' Winiam.. Nichblsons . '. : / h . Fii'st Member of tlie Army" Council ;'Bri"g./. % Gen. H. H. Wilson,^'• Bifcctor-''of Military- 7 t Operations; Gens. Sir John French'andyA s Sir lan Hamilton, Inspectors-General, of [ tho Home and Oversea Forces respective y Jy; Field-Marshal Viscount Kitchener.--Naval: Admiral of N t]ic.Fleet;;Sir 'X. y Wilson, First Sea Lord; Rear-Admiral th« - Hon. A. E. Bethell, t)ire<stor of * Naval*; J Intelligence; Admiral of the-Fleet, "Lord V;' * Fisher of Kilverstone. - j'i [- The work of the committee is purely; • '. advisory, and-it has no' executive funo-'.; ./ II - tions. Its purpose is to . consider; cfues- !: v } tions. of Imperial Defence from the'.point .1 of view of tho Navy, the Army, .India;'' , e and the several divisions-of ."the Empire; ';:-' to obtain and collate* informatioh- irom-V;. the various departments of State; 4 ,to^pre- 5 ;...' pare, any documents required ! by , tlie\, Prime; Minister; to., furnish as may,be required; out records : for the' information; of-'.the-: s Cabinet:' There is - a nei manent ' r tariat, of which; the' chiof • ; . Rear-Admiral Sir Cliarlcs. L.. Ottle'y*\C^V*\ ? . Necessary increases in various of the Commonwealth Defence Depart" . ;;; 11 ment have been provided in the 'currcnfc :' J . a year's estimates in consequence of;the v . 5 ' s pansioii of operations. The' total. increaWv , y on items .uuder the heading bf. : petman'r;,.;-. tent forces is <£-12,291.. .The;--instructional;Vv •- staff: carries' the largest incr2ase^^2l,l9rr.^.';-; 1 The vote for-the Royal Australian 'Artit-Vv !* lery is increased by c£17,509,. and that'for ; i' the ordnance department.by..63llß. .. The increase of under instructional 1 ;- . :* to. provide for tlie-transfer ol ; ; 200' ; *>- .instructors, if qualified, from the .-lion-.':-:; ft commissioiied officers at present undergoes ing instruction at Albury camp, who .will 11 bo drafted to*tlie various States on Januj- ary 1, 1911, and who, with the existing ' b. warrant and non-commissioned officers'of ; ' [ 5 the instructional staff, will be apjwinted, for duty»in tho areas toy.be-. proclaimed' i ' under the universal' system^.,' ■; Provision is made to brinj;the-mnitia;up,. • to-peace • 3 . '. conversion of the existing volun^cer^torces' into militia'from "'• lfc increased total of personnel- in"the<.Comri'. " > e ,'monwealtli is G9Bo,"Yicbria's : sh'areVbei'n'ff ' i 1753. Tlie following tabic shows., tlio'. : | 1- principle particulars of the increase:— . | 0 f Engia : Infan-» ;j * ' State. A.L.3. ;-V 0 New .South Wales ...... 13G . 8S ♦ 2201 Victoria 411. &i .1151. j'.v P' Queensland • 32 — v';2o9 :.' . > South Australia ...... —.;35 - , 610 , j - Western Australia ... — : ' 52 . - 781;;>. v.j !- Tasmania ■ 112 2' •• ; 782 ; /• I d . , ——-7^:';-':^ g Total G9l' 241 . j 11 'During this year the small arms am-..- .j 11 munition is to bo bronglit' up to.tha 11 irar i'e;ervo, iv]iiclr is '35,000,000 rounds..'.. -; e For tlijs proposal 15,000,000 rounds -will o bo required. ■ ,'r .'s a . ;- ' In tho Army Annual for 1910, there is o publislied tlie following interesting'ex-.,'.--; o tract from tlio "Evening Mail" of April Y.'. f 25, 1910; on the.: subject- of tho - famous '. ;* n military college at West Point,' U.S.iv:—\ '.r 1 0 "Lord Kitchener has just paid a mark-. i. cd.compliment to what, many discrimihat-.:. .1 ' ing judges before, him have picked' out- ' as the imost insiitutron hi America. In- ; his plan for the organisation of . the ,-de-; '; fence of Australia, he has recommended... tho establishment- o£*a; icadet-coUegeiott-'® the lines of tho Military Academy; 'of : AVest Point, and neither, as ii-soldier nor. •as.an educationist'could he'have..selected 1 a finer model. By some happy: chance;' " '» West Point has escaped tho corrupting in-j. finence of American politics; the keynote ® of its whole administration, is. efficiency, if' and it has produced : a' class of menwhoin. i- fen- Americans would:hesitate to desch'be. ';;. [- as tho pick of their nation. 1 Tho Amen- v ; n can army officer, in his physical develop-. c | ment, alertness of mind', and keenness for , q work, would malro a bid for tho highest n place in any comparison of. tho best '•. types of Anglo-Saxon' humanity. ;. l " "But," continues tho "the^in---'-.' fluenco of West Point is not confincd? to.: 'jj s its own graduates; it.has been multiplied ~';j a hundred-fold by its impressions upon > d the whole education spirit of America,.-':/ n nud through. the agency, of the miiner-. ; " s oils schools in which its principles arid' : ? hietliods find a flattering; imitation. ■In - ,'f all parts of the United States thera'-are'.'V Q to bo found colleges and academics whera tlio military system has been adopted aa.; *; tlie basis of life and education'. .Some'or . / \ them/date from before the time of the ' " Civil War, while others are but/.the':. \) growth of yesterday.. Their expansion\ro-.'- - f presents tlie spreading conviction that d the military training is the finest aitround preparation .for the business ot.- . ■ n life, and that the soldiers' ideals arc - the/ t trntst guides to the career of the. citizen.; :. 1 / It is more than .sixty years, since. Buskin' ;. ' tt wroto that 'One of. the chief reasons?for';.V the mainter.nncc of an army is tho' ad- , vantage ,of the military-' system as a , ■ method of education. . America has. ati'-: J army for- which she seldom expects tn t have any use in tho field, but her best. ;; minds have > recognised the benefits or a militarism as a training for the arts' and ->i t virtues of peace. 5 - 1 "The general age at which boys ate rj j- admitted to an American militavv'school. .1 j is fifteen or sixteen. While they undergo ' _ a sound general education, ; 'whic'h niay bo Vi - specialised in , classical,. commercial,;ur mechanical departments—according to de-; v .- arrangement of-their life is; on. . : military lines. They wear a. uniform,, are ' drilled regularly, and, in "some instiuitions, such as the Pennsylvania Military. ;:. " College, arc furnished by tho State with o. the-use of regulation rifles, machine'. ;. 1 guns, cannon.,.signalling .apparatus,..ann;; ) S' hospital-, appliances. Part of the curricu-- • j i l«m in some cases consists .of ■ two or,,v 1 o three weeks' camping-out.,in each •year,"':-] under service conditions. 1 • The great :i q habit cngenderwl is that of having »?i' ;! intelligent purpose for evoi-.v. nioinont oE j ' the day. A regimen of this' sort tends ! ; J ' te the eradication; of loungers and wnve'r- ' j 0 ers. Not only do boys become pmictiial, -; J " orderly, and responsive to authority, .but, j t' tlie instinct of concentration grows.jipon f them—tho graduates of these # iniiitnr.v ;: 1 colleges reveal a habitual decision or s Uie.nlier. movement, and-'speech. The;;:; ] spirit of West Point is gradually, leaven-. : 3 ing the whole body of. a nation." ■ • [It is not necessary for one lo'.-.bftian:-'!' " ardent "militarist" iii order to appre- ~,• x . ciale what the foregoing extract is meant .j ■ to convey. In a country like ,New.Zea-;„i • land, where there, is practically ; no na- ; . - j l.ional • sentiment, precious; little national• >' discipline, some leaven of; this kind is . 1 surely needed.—"Echelon."! : . ; ' .v - ;