THE ESTIMATES

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2251, 10 September 1914, Page 8

THE ESTIMATES

DEFENCE ' ■ REINFORCIIENTS FOR EUROPE The .Defence '.vote, the toial of which Was £012,001, was first considered. ' '„i « J; S Dickson (Parnell)." asked Whether the Minister intended filling the places of those Imperial officers who fire shortly to: return::to.,England, by the appointment of Now-' Zealanders •H5 urged that this should ibe done. ' . The Hon. J. Allen said that wherever it was possible the' Government, were tilling tho places of-the-English-officers now leaving, Zealand officers:' He did not wiifli to lead the House to ' believe that this could be, done in every . case. _ ■ > Mr. G. W. Rissell saiid that" his «wn , personal opinion was tliat-Sir Alexander faodley should '.hav'e'Vsta'yed'iin-'-New-'Zea- • railior than that he should have left New Zealand to lead the force. ■ , Mr. Massey:! AVhich is better for .the Empire? .; ■ • ■- _ . ' t Mr. Russell -It be a great deal better for the, Empire to have this part of the. Empire;':well Jt>rotecte.d','i if. this struggle goes ;on. He asiced whether the Government, in order to keep the ,flrmy up to iti full/'strength, while such a large number of young men were .going abroad, would extend the scope of training to embrace older mep. Mr. Massey: Thousands are training ( liow in rifle clubs. t Mr. Russell-thought that .some better organisation than "that of rifle ,clubs' might be,formed to enable older much to train for the defence of the .✓country. No great expense would be entailed because the patriotism of the /people was so :keen that the services -, would be given, with the utmost readiness. Especially was some scheme of tho sort necessary in view of ,tho possibility of demands being made upon the Dominion for more men to fight for the .Empire. ' Mr. J. A. Hanan (Invercargill) said ho hopsd the Government would not \lose eight of the necessity for ensuring that our supply of foodstuffs for 'New Zealand should bo kept up. The necessity for keeping up the supply was so " great that it might not be wise to send too many additional men to fight. Ho . also asked whether -the Defence authorities intended to fortify 6onie of our ports now unprotected. He also suggested that field giiiis ought not to be taken away from New Zealand with- the Expeditionary Force. What New . Zealand Had Done. 'Hie Hon. J. Allen said that the Houso had to consider how far it was right to send large numbers of men away from Now Zealand, having regard to the needs-of the Empire and the . need? of New Zealand. Tho Government were prepared to fulfil their arrangement with the War Office—which was to send away an Expeditionary Force of the sizo now being sent. Indeed, New Zealand.had done more than it had promised. The Mother Country had said that the Force was required, and vd'.v •urgently required. The Government had "witl\in the last day or two received a cablegram from the Homo authorities saying that they wanted more men, and he had no doubt that the Govern- ■ ment and Parliament would respond to the call made. (Hear, hear.) Tho bargain the New Zealand Government had made with the War Office was to send ■with our Force a six-gun battery, but How it had been decided to send'a brigade of artillery, consisting of three (four-gun batteries. It had been suggested that_ sufficient guns were not being left behind for tho dcferice of New Zcat land. He did not intend to say how many guns .were being left here, but ho had been advised that tho supply of eighteon-poundors, and the Howitzer battery to be left here was ample for the defence of the country. Harboiir Fortification. : With regard to the fortification of our harbours, Auckland and Wellington defences were .'ample, in view of the, present state of tho Pacific.. In fact,' Wellington and' Auckland. were so well .defended would like to be in any of the batteries at those ports when cither tho Gjeisenau or the Scharnhorst came to attack them. Ho was advised also that the porta of Dunedin and Lyt-t-elton were -well protected. a Ceneral Godley. .The term of appointment of General rod Joy. Tvould,not,,be.up,until 13 month*

from now, and he was under engagement'to como back to New Zealand When the war- was over, il' his term were not expired by that time. He had no hesitation in saying that the Government would have been lacking m their duty, to tho Motlier Country, and tlioir duty, to the forco, if they had not sent tlie best man available in command, for. the lives of all the men. depended oil the knowledge and experience, of their commander. It was our duty to send tlie best wo had, and he ventured to say that the state of things in the Pacific was sucli that we 'could send our-best and still feel safe within our own shores.

Reinforcements. Arrangements had been made with the "War Oflice to send reinforcements to keep the force up ,to full strength auring the war. This would mean sending a force equal to 20 per cent, of the original force about six. weeks after tlie dispatch of the main body, and five per cent, per month afterwards. It was true that the war would deplete tho Territorials, and already steps hall been taken to fill np the ranks of certain of the Territorials. The Sth Wellington Regiment was ■ being filled from the general training section, and from those men and officers who had served with the volunteers. The Government owed a.debt of gratitude to those men and ,officers who had come forward to keep np tho .defences of the country. He was also gratified with the splendid offers-of assistance from the-Legion of Frontiersmen, the National Reserve, and others. So many men had offered their services .that thq Government could hot supply them with rifles ext cepf-by taking the rifles from the cadets, and- he did not propose to do that. It was also possible • that the age at which men could volunteer for Service abroad would be increased. This would make it possible for many men who 'had seen servico to go with our forces to the front. ■ y In the course of some subsequent remarks, the Prime Minister said that he. thought that in future they should endeavour to send away a larger, proportion of well-seasoned men than had been included* in the detachment that had gone, or was being included in the Korea ', about to cleave. . Ho did not desire to disparage the men who had already enlisted, but lie certainly thought that it would be better to have a larger proportion of well-seasoned men. ■ The. vote was passed at 10 p.m., and the Post and Telegraph vote (£1,238,491) was then proceeded to. This, also, was passed, and at 10.10 p.m. the House rose till 7.30 p.m. to-day.

EVENING SITTINGS ONLY

The House has not held any afternoon sittings during, tho past 'month. When the adjournment was reached last evening, Mr. G. W. Russell. (Avon) asked the Prime Minister when he proposed to ask the House to resume its normal sittings. Mr. Massey replied that he thought that the afternoon sittings might be resumed almost at once, but ho. would not ask the House to sit tho next afternoon. He pointed out that during the past two or three weeks the Cabinet had been sitting almost every-forenoon, and-that a great deal of time had also •been taken up in attending to committee work.