TERRITORIAL SYSTEM

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 150, 14 March 1918, Page 6

TERRITORIAL SYSTEM

CHANGE FORESHADOWED BY MINISTER OF DEFENCE. Tho possibility oE a change in the present Territorial system, which has already been foreshadowed to some extent, was'further mentioned by Sir James Allen, Minister of Defence, to an Auckland "Star" reporter. The Minister stated that, any new policy which might be brought into existence after the- war was over would have to be discussed by Cabinet, but any man at all observant couM see the lines upon which it must develop. It was perfectly plain that with a. good staff of instructors, and the kind of material that we had to work on in New Zealand, it was possible to produce, fairly well disciplined nnd trained soldiers in anything from three to four months. We were doing it now in four months, but if the leave to the men wero cut out, as it probably would be under a system of that kind, it might be possible to do it in three months. The men, of course, could not reach the fullest extent of their training in this time, but they would at least be fairly well trained, and the main part of their work would be done. They would be instructed in hygiene and matters generally appertaining to their health, physical drill, discipline, and the ability to move. This would form a very large portion of the work, and if it could be grafted on to the Territorial system he thought it should be done. We would then get a citizen army which would he in a position to respond to a call whenever it was necessary, and if this training were continued by a week or ten days in camp each year we would always have at hand a body of men who could be turned into a fighting unit at very short notice. If the men were taken, say, at eighteen years, and for three months placed in well-established camps with a highly-trained staff of instructors, we would not only produce the basis of a well-trained soldier, but a very much more efficient citizen, and it was important that we should look at it also from the point of view of pvoduciug efficient citizeus. Medical and dental treatment would bo provided iu the camps, because if we were desirous of producing an efficient population we must make the men as medically and dentally fit as it was possible to make them. In reply to a query as to whether this system that had' been outlined would do away with the weekly drills at night, the Minister stated that undoubtedly it would. '