DEFENCE AFFAIRS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 181, 20 April 1918, Page 8

DEFENCE AFFAIRS

RECRUITING BRANCH

CRITICISED

SOME EXTRAVAGANCE

ARE THERE TOO MANY UNIFORMS?

Ihe Defence Expenditure Commission sat yesterday morning for the hearing ot evidence. Brigadier-General Sir Robert Anderson presided, and the other Commissioners, Mr. Charles Rhodes and Mr Peter Barr, sat with him,

Ben _ C. Warnes, correspondence officer in Base Records, continued his evidence. He referred to the operations of the Discharged Soldiers' information Department. His evidence was, in effect, that the Department was needless. Land settlement mailers could be more efficiently run by the Lands Department, and tho Labour bureau work of the Department by the Returned Soldiers' Association. In actual fact employers in search of men were making their ■ inquiries through the Returned Soldiers' Association. He therefore urged that the Government should subsidise the association to the amount of not more than i'soo per year, ro effecting a saving of at least •£20(10 per year. About Centralisation. He went on to speak of the branch controlled by the Director of Recruiting. He declared that this branch was very incompetent, and its inability to deal with correspondence was "painfully apparent." Sometimes letters from Base Kecords to the Recruiting Branch, were not replied to for several months, ;md not until replies had been asked for three or four times. He had come across several faulty attestations, and instances of men with four or h'vjs children being allowed to enlist. The vfork of the otlice, he said, was "enough to make the gods weep." This was well recognised by all correspondence clerks in Base Records. Witness had spoken to Major I'raneis, Director of Base Records, about it, and Major Francis had said, "They're impossible." Replying to the chairman, witness said he doubted whether it would be possible for a "liaison officer" to be useful in co-ordinating the recruiting branch with Base Records. The machinery of the recruiting branch was cumbersome in tha extreme. It was impossible without much search to find out where papers belonging to a specified case were. They might be at ono of several group offices. Witness suggested that the recruiting branch should be abolished and all the work done by the groups. This would make the work easier, and would avoid much duplication, such as occurred now. If this plan were adopted all that would be necessary would be a few extra clerks in the Adjutant-General's office here instead of the present large department and huge staff. There was a. Director of Recruiting and an Assistant Director, and a Deputy-Director, and an Assistant Deputy-Director. The position of Assistant Director was filled lately by the appointment ot Mr. Mason from the district railway traffic manager's office at Auckland, a man who had no knowledge of the work. As a railway officer he was paid some ,£3OO a year to do work for which he was trained, and to do this wort in the Recruiting Branch, of which he had no knowledge, Mr. Mason was paid 4)375 a year. The salaries cost of Base Records was .£30,000 n year, and he estimated that the salaries cost of the Recruiting Branch must have been He referred to an instance of a trap set by the military police outside Base Records to catch some of the employees of the Department. He declared that military police were not overworked, and that he did not believe that thero was need for more men for .this force. Too Many Branches.

His opinion was that thej'e were too many directors and directorates—too many sub-branches of the Defence Department. Ono of the directoralee which might be abolished was that of the Director of Personal Services. This work was formerly done by Base Records, and he thought it could still be done by Base Records, with saving of money and effort, without loss of efficiency. So he thought the Director of Organisation, who looted after the awards of honours, might give up these duties. The files of the soldiers were at Base Records, and this work could be much more easily done by Base Records, with actually saving of work for the Base Records staff. If these duties were given to Base Records, he was of opinion that the Director of Personal Services and the' Director of Organisation might amalgamate their offices with saving of oxpense. In conclusion, witness 6aid that he had no personal grievance. He considered th»t he earned the salary he was paid, and he had no complaint to make at all about his position or his employment. Over Centralisation. Colonel G. F. C. Campbell, Secretary to the Treasury, and Coast Defence Commander, came to answer , a series cf questions propounded by the commission. He had had 31 years' experience in the volunteer and territorial eysleins. He said that he reared there was ovorceutralisation in ■ Wellington. "Perhaps," he said, "one of the most important evidences of this can be found in the direct control from Headquarters in Wellington of the commandant of the prison camp at Motuihi. The causes which lead to over-centralisation may be an excessive desire on the nart of Headquarters Staff to retain the fuil power of controlling details in their own hand?, or, on the other hand, it limy be the result of inefficiency and want of initiative on the part of subordinate officers, or it may be the result of the absence of co-ordination due to remissness on the part of superior officers in making subordinate responsible officers to tho-oughly understand their powers and their duties. On Extravagance. Question: Has there, in your experience, been extravagance in the Defence Department? If to, (a) Has it been checked now? (b) Was it the fault of mismanagement rr the result of inexperience? ' Answer: I think there has been extravagance in the administration of Hie Defence Department during the war period. This does not apply, however, to the Territorial Force. I canuot say if extravagance bus been entirely checked, but I am aware thai the conditions have very much improved iu this >espect. I should say that it was caused chiefly by want of administrative experience and teaching on the part of many of the officers in whoso hands control had necessarily to be placed. Probably the extravagance was- partly due to the fact that few officers at the outset recognised that in dealing with public moneys, there was any necessity for them to exercise ordinary businuw precautions. Losses have occurred, but not, I think, from fraud.

Question: With ''ncrease of experience, the system with regard to economising expenditure has improved gradually;has it swung round to parsimony of Hie penny wise and pound foolish order? Answer: I do not think that the condition of extravagance has now been changed into ft condition of undue 'parsimony. I am awaro that there have been rases where loss may have occurred by delays, but if these cases are innuird into, T'think it v;ill be found that the onuse is flue nnt to parsimonious mothflrls, but lo failure on the nnrr. "f pnrsons supnlvincf r"n"'sUi(W t" fulfil t ,, " new ronditions wrrprl by the D. of T , .. and 0.5.. or pos°ihly it mnv be caused by the loss or delays in the handling of documents. Size of Staffs. Question: Has your exnprienrp indicated that the Defence Department at General Headquarters or in districts is nvrslnff-d? Answer: T ennnol 'irivp n nn. «wr In live nnp.s"n-' n< T l.jii-n n nt had the opportunity of Mi" intonv*' nreanisalion of the different branches of Hie Department. Speaking generally, T should mv that the order*, inslmolinpand regulations', which are issued, could bo very largely reduced, and Ihe pxpen=e of printing economised. T thi'dc it is possible that there is considerable over-

lapping of duties, due partly to the tendency lo separate all military services from civil departments which <iTe organised for carrying out practically similar work-. Wo have, for instance, military police doing duties which probably could be performed by the ordinary police, and I understand that a special detention establishment is being set up. Pay and Records are closely allied, but seem lo have grown into separate subsidiary Departments. The Recruiting Office under the'A.G. is engaged in tabulating work very similar to Hint performed by the Government Statistician, and with a reasonable increase of staff the latter could probably have carried out these duties satisfactorily. The evidence of the Government Statistician might assist the Commission in this connection. I incline to the opinion that districts are overstaffed. A great deal depends on thn administrative power and qualifications of the officer commanding the district, and his ability to adopt the shortest and best methods of getting the work done.

Watertight Compartments. Question: Is initiative encouraged in the Defence Department? Answer: I do not think that subordinate officers are encouraged to offer suggestions. Question t Is the tendency of officers of the Defence Department to work in water-tight compartments, or to interfere too much with details? Answer: The tendency in all Government Departments which find it necessary to extend and enlarge their staff, is for the subordinate officers to endeavour to set up separate subsidiary departments of their own. This tendency is by no means confined to the Defence Department. If this is not checked, it leads to over-staffing and absence of co-OTdination between thi>«e subdepartments. I should say thai the tendency of the higher officers of the Defence Department was to interfere too ranch ivith details. The answer would probably be given that subordinate officers cannot 1)8 trusted to settle details without oversight from higher authority. My experience goes to show Hint there are few intelligent officers who do not appreciate responsibility, and rise to the occasion when they understand they are expected to shoulder full responsibility for all details. The Territorials. Question: Has the great pressure on the officers by reason of the- work involved in connection with the Expeditionary Force tended to operate against territorial matters? If so, can you suggest a remedy? Answer: Yes, it is only to be expected that first consideration must be given to the Expeditionary Force. It should, however, be borne in mind that wo have to look to the future, and after the war is over it will bo costly and troublesome if we have to rebuild our national system of military service. The fact hao by no means been overcome. Young fellows are escaping military service, and the so-called compulsory provisions of our territorial enactments are at present practically a dead letter. The remedy I suggest is to place, an officer of appropriate rank and experience in control over the Territorial and Cadet Jiorcee. This officer should, in my opinion, be relieved of all other duties, and be responsible direct to the G.O.C. He should be an officer responsible not only for the training, but. for the administrative services of the Territorial and Cadet Forces. The Man for the Post. The chairman: What sort of officei have you in mind? Witness: I should like to s?o Colonel Sleeman appointed to tue position. _ _ The chairman, after making inquiries as to who Colonel Sleeman was, said: Isn't it stupendous luck to have a man of his knowledge and experience here now? ■ . , Witness: T look upon nim as a most excellent officer, and I think better use could be made of his services. ... He has been of great assistance already in training camps for territorials. The chairman: You have enough power to run a railway engine running a sewing machine there! Too Much Khaki?

Question: Does there seem in your opinion to be public resentment against trie number of persons appearing m uniform? ' . Answer: I hnve heard frequent comments regarding the number of persons appearing in uniform who are not engaged in military training. 1 think that there are too many civilians in uniform engaged in administrative duties. This must add to the cost of tho administration, considerably. Question: Do'you consider it necessary or advisable to put into uniform men doing work of a temporary military charAus'wer: I do not think it is either necessary or advisable that civilians who are employed by 'he Department in a civil capacity should be iu umtorni. I understand that ono of the arguments in favour of placing civilians in uniform is for the purpose of discipline-. We do not, however, find that discipline .suiters in other branches of the service where uniforms are not worn.

Officers' Spending Powers. In the course of further evidence, Col-. onel Campbell said that as far as he had been able to judge the audit ot Uefouco accounts hud been efficiently carried but The relations between tho Defence Deportment hkl the Treasury were and always had been entirely' satisfactory. He said also that ho was not in favour of a general enlargement of the ependinj? power of local officers. The difficulty was a personal one. Some tfh'cere co'uld be trusted with almost unlimited powers, but others would aliuee even limited powers. The chairman asked -whether it was not ridiculous that an officer had no power to spend money to replace a window that had been blown out? Witness: My experience goes to show that in the matter of broken windows the wind is a most useful scapegoat. Often the wind is blamed when it is duo to skylarking or carelessness. The. chairman: What salary do officers commanding districts get—about .C7OO or ,6800? Witness: About (hat «tim..,l am rot sure. The chairman: Should not- an officer of that class Have some spending power? Witness: "There ore some military officers drawing high salaries whom 1 would not trust with any authority at all to spend any money not their own." Ho added-that ho had no authority as Coast Defence Commander to spend a shilling, and he had never found any great incouvenienco from tha.t.

The chairman asked a series of questions about the titles given to Staff officers, mentioning particularly Quarter-master-General and Director of Equipment and Ordnance Stores. Would it not be better, he suggested, to alter these titles? What was tho Director of Equipment and Ordnance Stores? Was ho not simply the Army storekeeper? Witness: I quite agree with yon.

Replying to another question, witness eaid that from conversation ho had had with young officers going away, and especially with those who had served with him, he Had found that they wcro not instructed in' administrative duties. They had learned their drill very carefully, but had given no attention to administrative Huddart, Parker, Ltd.

Cecil William Jones, New Zealand manager for Huddart, Parker, Ltd., gavi, evidence. He eaid that one only of the company's ships was chartered by the Government. In others of the company's ships the Government was charged the general freight rales, but soldiers wt-re given concessions in fares. The amount received from the Government for hin> of the shin up to March 31 last was np. wroxinutel'y .£135,000. The Government paid wages and all expenses. The company expanded no money on account ot the 'Government. The commission meets to-day at 11 a.m.