OUR REINFORCEMENTS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3140, 19 July 1917, Page 6

OUR REINFORCEMENTS

THE RECENT POSITION FURTHER STATEMENT BY DEFENCE MINISTER "It is not true that we-have soldiers in England to-day doing nothing," said the Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen) in the House of Representatives, in reply to a statement made in the course of debate. "There are some sick and wounded New Zealand soldiers in the hospitals, and they cannot do much. The rest of tho men are in the training camps, and members of this House who have visited the United Kingdom recently will support me when I say that the men in training in our camps iii England are worked a great deal harder than the men in Trentham or Featherston. "The last report I had from General Richardson staled that there were 15,000 New Zealand soldiers in England at that time, 10,000 of them being fit to go to the front and 5000 of them sick and wounded. The rest of our men were in 1 ranee, Egypt, and elsewhere. It would give mo great pleasure as Minister of Defence to bring the Main Body men back to New Zealand, but you .must recollect that these men, with their training and experience, are a very valuable asset to the New Zealand Division'} especially in the case of the officers. I believe myself that if we were to give these men the option of returning to Now Zealand now a very large majority of them would prefer to stay and see the thing through. "It has been stated that we have 64,500 men fit to fight outside New Zealand. That is not the position. What I told the House last week was that £4,000 men were abroad." An hon. member: How many men have we in the firing line? Sir James Allen: "We have about 20,000 men in the fighting line in Franco at the present time. When I last had a report there were also 3000 or 4000 men at Etaples, as a first reserve ready to go into the firing line at any moment. Our division must have that support. It is the knowledge that they have reinforcements behind them, Teady to fill gaps in tlie ranks, that makes our men what they are. The New Zealand Division has been assisted to win the name it now holds because it has had a steady supply of reinforcements. The assurance of support is the help we owe our men. "Reference has been made to an Australian proposal to bring back the remnants of the Main Body. I know something;' about that. I have been in communication with the Federal Defence Minister. He is just as anxious as tho New Zealand Defence Minister to' get these men back if possible. But the Australian Defence Minister is in a much worse position than the New Zealnnd Defence Minister. Ho cannot move these men without destroying his divisions. The reinforcements from Australia have been so—but I ought not to refer to Australian reinforcements, and I will not do so. "It has been stated in this House that the percentage of reinforcements for the infantry is 12J," continued the Minister. "That is not the case." Dr. Thacker: Twelve and a half per cent on the whole .force? James Allen: I will make a state'ment on that subject later.. The infantry reinforcement rate is 15 per cent., as fixed by the War Office." Dr. Thacker: More than double the Australian rate. '< Sir James Allen: "J may refer lo Australia later." The Minister added that before the outbreak of war the Army authorities had fixed the rate of reinforcement for the maintenance of a' unit in the field at 7 per cent, per month. But the early stages of the war had shown that the percentage was too small, and the reinforcement rate was then increased to 12$ per cent. The Gallipoli campaign showed that 121 per cent, was insufficient. New Zealand's Main Body, in common with other forces, fell into a deplorable condition owing to lack of men, and the reinforcement rate was increased to 20 per cent, per month. Mr. Young: You did not give them guns or ammunition at Gallipoli. They could not defend themselves. Sir James Allen: After some experience of the campaign in France we reduced the reinforcement rate for the infantry to 15 per cent. It stands at that now. I have been in communication with the AVar Office to see whether the rate must be maintained or can, be reduced. If a reduction is possible it will bo made. But whatever happens wo must maintain the reinforcement rate fixed by the War Office.