MILITARY NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1434, 8 May 1912, Page 5

MILITARY NOTES.

lEmrKn Ht Echelon.] OFFICERS' EXAMINATIONS. 1 COJ.OXKr. TtEAIiD'S RKPOHT. i 17opor( iiifr ois flip Xovomljpr pxaininalions <jt* Xciv /i'.i!;nni de-ii-ito " rjVijilif.v for insiniotion. t| u . J>iit-cfor of > Mi lihi iv Traiisinf; (Colmu'l E. S. Itvunl) , {'uiniiiciit.s at coj!Mi!enil>le ic on (lie I Kononil Qiiaiity oi tlic work of the ; dates in the various papers set. Ail ulliL cors preparing for exuininntioii arc recoml»e;i(lpil to prncm-c a topy of that n-port, uhiuli is ji(u\' on saic at (id. por copy, antl liavinif proi'iircil if, (li»cst its conti'nts carefully—forewarned and i'oroarnied. Iho results oi litis osaniination are, on the whole, fairly good when it is considered that it is the lirst viaininavioii held under a new system*' (comments the Bireclor ot Aflll ':iry 'J 1 rni 11; in n prefatory note). "Tliis examinalion was carried out on the same lines as those held for officers of the Kegulnr Army, ■those candidates who failed to qualify lor promotion, either partially or wliollv, must not be discouraged, if they study the remarks of the several examiners thev may discover in whut it was that thenerrors lay. Th.e reports of the examiners are meant to assist candidates in future in avoiding certain mistakes that are always made, and in gaining instrncfion from .the criticism ou tbe work generally. Candidate should always read over their questions very carefully before attempllnL' lo answer them. It is carelessness in tins respect that often leads to failure, i hough, there is not much complaint about it, trouble should be taken over the writing and spelling, faults of this kind always detract from the value of an answer. Another fault is tho writing of slipshod English. If a candidate wishes to make his meaning clear he must write clear and simple English. The omission of necessary ends, such as articles, etc., does not jook well, nor does it add to the clearness of an answer, it is a style that might he termed "telegraphese," but it is not a stylo Hint should be adopted by officers in any description of writing, except telegrams. "Officers must pay more attention to the .study of maps and map-reading. It is unfortunate that there arc no maps— that is, military maps—of 1 lie Dominion at present, but for the purpose of ,'tudy any maps with contours or form-lines drawn on them answer the purpose, it is hoped that before long such maps will be produced to assist officers in map-read-I'erhaps in the tactical paper candidates were lather puzzled by the form in which the problems v -re set. But if they had carefully read and considered them they would have found that they wero not so difficult as they locked. Anv of- the problems might have been solved out of Ih" Field Service JlegnlaHons, J\irt I. and,were quite simple. Tactical questions are better set in this form than any other, and officers when they become ussd to this system will find 110 difficultv in it. . "Filially, candidates must remember that 110 examination can be successfully dealt with unless (hey give some study to the subjects beforehand. It seems apparent from some of the candidates' work that they could not have given sufficient ; time to the study of the various regula- 1 tions.and manuals. All officer must give 1 a certain amount of his time to reading ; if .he hopes to improve his. military know- 1 ledge- it is not..sufficient to take to his I books a short tinio before his examina- i tion. .

■In. the examination fnr captains ant lieutenants separate paper? were set foi either rank, and certain questions wen submitted to both. In flic "milihin- en pneerinn, tactics, anil map reailing' paper sc. for 'explains and lieutenant.* "the .standard of work sent in was not ugh, apparently owim; to candidates nol having had much practice.in niiswerinp tactical questions on paper. Genera' faults were, irreleva.lev and neglect 'c road the questions carefully. Good pap' crs were sent in by six of flic candidates In the .Military Law" paper (captain' and lieutenants), "the result of the ex. aniinntion, on the whole, was verv salis factory, especially when it is reniembereci [low very seldom ofiieers of the Territorial Force have an opportunity of stmlvins the practical working of military aw; Olid they have also been nreat'.v handicapped by being unable to obtain [lie itseeswiry books. The obieet. of the examination is to test the aijTlitv of the candidate nr.l only to turn up 'the eorrect references and quote them, but also to show that he understands what is contamed iu the section of the Act, rule of procedure, or paragraph of the New Zealand Regulations quoted by him; and mlcss this is done the answer cannot bo .'onsidered a complete one." The paper on "Organisation, Administration, and Equipment" (captains aw lieutenants) were of quite an elementan character, hut "the work* done, on tin whole, is not good. Fen* candidate* inswered the questions with any completeness. In most cases the books die not seem to have been studied thoroughly; tnd only a rcugh knowledge of the subiect was shown- in the answers to quesions. Detail in a great number of case* •vas badly wanting. . . . In othei the papers were not too bad—the ivriting was in all cases clear, though in nany eases untidy. The method of putting the answers on paper was often bad, in some cases the "unit" was looked up)n as /company' or 'squadron,' instead oi lattahon or regime.nl. In one or two invtances the questions were not read careully, and therefore answered badly. This; lowever, was only in a very few cases/' In the "Cavalry Training" paper fcapains and lieutenants) "all the candidates uade i very fair answers to most of the questions. On the 'cor© of horses'* they vere all particularly good, which goes to ;how that the average New Zcalandei loes know how to look after his mount— vhen ho feels so disposed. The question, What should the t commander of a patrol enow before starting out on a reconnais-lanc-e?* was also well.answered. Most.oi he candidates did badly at the one quesion on ceremonial drill, probably owing o the little chance of doing such work Heretofore. Spelling, writing, etc., all air. Tho captains did not do so well, fo on> getting over 75 per cent. Most it their marks were lost in answering he questions: '\\hat is taught the roTUit in preliminary training in skirmishnS?' 'What principles regulate the march n liner and 'a question on ceremonial Iml. Answers to questions regarding fit:ing saddles, bridles, etc., were uniformly 'pod, as also wore the answers to questions on squadron drill. Writing, spoilng, etc., quite good." "'here were only three candidates in ;hp field artillery examination—one capain, who did a very good paper, and two leutenants, whose papers were only fair, candidates should devoto more time to he study of field artillery training, more Kirticularly to "Care of . Equipment." "here was only one candidate in garrison irtiilery subjects. Ho wrote an excellcut jasper, obtaining SO per cent. ' Only-one candidate sat for the examilation in military engineering, and the £°. the exception of 'tactical Impositions,' was fair. This candidate las a very fair theoretical knowledge of he use of field defences, but when faced nth ihe problem of reading a map and vorking out a scheme with its aid there ;eoms a lamentable v/nnt of knowledge, rhis can, of course, be easily accounted 'or, as very few officers in this branch >f the service (field engineers) have any ihance of learning map-reading, and herefore possess a very elementary and lazy knowledge of them."

, "The general, standard of the work sent in by candidates in 'Infantry Training was disappointing, arid showed that the Manual of Infantry Training had not been carefully studied. The spelling, punctuation, and handwriting was in many capes decidedly poor, and candidates must pay : more attention to the?«. In the lieutenants' paper, 25 per csni. of the candidates failed to obtain half marks. This is a very high percentage of failures jn a paper of this description. In the captains' paper, 23 per cent, of the candidates failed to obtain half marks. This is much too high a percentage in such an elementary paper. In very many cases the questions were not as well answered as by the lieu- i tenants. "With the exception of one can-' didate, there appears to be a considerable lack of knowledge on the question a.? ro the imI«» ci' urtilkuT ia iii«• attack. Some slated that, the artillery must breach wall*, ole., in order 1" enable the infantry In »ain an enhance; >ome (hat artillery, bv doininatinj: the enemy's position, ciiablod the mi a u try to advnncc: other.- Dint tho artillery, by looting* {)i« pustuyV KUBfi, fcaabled tfet jjgfftatrj? (

f i> f(Milo cit'af (hat the (juration was inU'ju:»'fl to obtain from candidates n (lisnil the to-uperalion oi' infantry | and avU!U»vv, with *pccial to upld artillery. (Jamlidnirv do not scons •«» no aware that hcjjo hali'me- do unf usually npenmjKiuy a fi»ld iorce unless K'l'U aro likely to play n prominent part in toe campaign. '.rhi*n* appear.- to )k- an idea that tins eo-oporaiion is .soniothijit< Nitirolv iir-w. 'J'ho nerd for co-operation w notmnt; new, neither i.-j thp practice of h ; • • . With the increase in the range ot weapons and wider extensions new diiiiemtio.-* have been continually arising, and uie auvont of sinokelo-* powder lias made the question a still more complicated one. J'.ach now war still (>inphiM>e>: the need or eo-operaiinii and the difficulties atlem.antin its efficient accomplishment. In j.outh Africa and in the newt lor eo-opvratinn was fully proved, and J' 1e ,? iU>l ': it allowed how heavy the penally tor its nhseneo was. The support 0 pnillery is essentially neeo«nry, in pavlicu.ar to infantry when attacking and laving to run the gauntlet of the >torm of uiilieh from modern long-range and fiatiiajectaricd magazine rities. Officers are t'eeommended to read an article on this subjeefe hy J. du Cane, L.K.A., Ist Division at AlderMiot, junch appeared in the recent jnunbpr ot in i 11 1? }} cvi ™'i th« Battle of Worth, • v »? . N°iutoi\«on; and Part II of Official_ History of Russo-Japanese War." !o " 1 0, l° can didate sat for the paper on . anitation.' The paper submitted for correction was of exceptional merit. The questions were got with a view to test the' knowledge of candidates in thtf latest and ".i in £ ( . ,oru ideas of military medical work. lho knowledge displayed in this paper snows that the candidate is quite tip to date in his work. I can scarcely find any ianlt with his answers to anv of the questions." in the majors' examination in tactical iitness five candidates presented themneives, and of these three qualified them* selves tor promotion. The work on the w*hoi o was very fail. . . . Tho important problem nf writing orders requires much study. The whole subject is clearly Mn T"l l l j n tforvico Regulations. Ihe 1" leul Service Pocket-book also contains information on the subject. It was to the want of a proper knowledge of writing orders that the chief failures in this examination wero due."