TRAINING OF SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2781, 27 May 1916, Page 9

TRAINING OF SOLDIERS

— H5 : - SATISFACTORY RESULTS COMPLIMENTARY REPORTS • A statement regarding the efficiency atjjained by tlio i\mv Zealand Keimorcetiiieiits was made to the House >esteruuy by the Minister of Deience {.Hon. -o: iAiion). t U'fle Minister stated that the course of instruction carried out by vno artillery reinforcements ■ had been entirely satisfactory, no adverse criticism having been received from the front. The principal criticism regarding t'ne artillery nad been the small amount of firing with live shell. • Ihia was due to the ■ necessity for eend"fraway the greater portion of tho New ff Zealand gun ammunition" with the Expeditionary Force, aiid tho necessity lor conserving l tho remainder. Tlio Imperial Government having recently' made a shipment of ammunition to New Zealand, it 'had beeif possible to .increase tho number of rounds fired by each draft. When .tho ammunition arrived, it would be possible to still .further . augment tho number of rounds for practice. In regard to musKetry, tho General Officer Commanding, the training depot in ' 'Egypt had reported last year as follows:— _ Keiuforceuients from New Zealand have in almost all cases fired both Table A and Table li (New Zealand course) bei'oro leaving New Zealand, and where this has been done tho standard attained has been found so high as to -warrant the elimination of further range instruction from tho courso of'thoir training in Egypt." Bri-gadier-General Erl Johnston, commanding the New Zealand ~ Infantry Brifade, wrote that ho considered the musetry training to be "surprisingly high." Since these opinions -wero obtained the musketry course had been greatly extended. Huring the- first twelve months of the War it was impossible owing to the lack of instructors to carry out tlio efficient training of machine gunners, but the position in this'respect had been 'greatly improved.' Six guns of the latest pattern, iwould arrive shortly. Signalling instruction was beiug carried out in the :Eeatherston camp with satisfactory results. In both the Trenthain and Featherston camps, 'stated the Minister, permanent [fatigues recruited from men not lit for service were employed. It wn* not-con-sidered desirable; to entirely eliminate tho ifatigues performed by men of the Bein'iorcement' drafts.: It' was considered that •the fatigues had been reduced to tho minimum by the construction oi' the great permanent training camps. .