DEFENCE AFFAIRS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 196, 8 May 1918, Page 6

DEFENCE AFFAIRS

ALLOWANCES TO OFFICERS

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE BOARD

RETURNED INSTRUCTORS

GIVE EVIDENCE TO COMMISSION

The Defence Expenditure Commission sat yefitprdny for Hie h oaring of evidence. The chairman of the Commission (Briga-dier-General Sir Robert Anderson) presided, and Mr. Charles .Rhodes sat with him,

Major Griffin, Director of Financial Services, was recalled to give evidence regarding the origin of a certain general order, which was approved by Cabinet, for the continuance of the payment of allowances to officers in thn training camps. Colonel Tate, Adjutant-General, who had given evidence the prnvkm? day. had-been unable to tell the Commission who the author of the order was.

Major Griffin said that lie had wx drawn up the general order, nor could he say for certain who had drawn it up. Asked whether it had been based on any recommendation of which he had knowledge, he gitid that he thought probably it would be based on proposals put forward by the Chief of Uβ OmitM Staff. Colonel Gibbon did put forward proposals, and with one or two exceptions these had been adopted. The recommendations would have made the allowance!) larger in some cases. Witness had been asked for remarks in connection with tlio payment of "duty pay." which he had furnished. These remarks were not now on the file. He could not swear that they were ever on the file, but thoy should have been tljere. The recommendations which wont to Cabinet were not supported or accompanied by any recommendations or comments from hiiii. His remarks at that time were addressed to C.G.S. He had expected to tee the remarks on the hie, but tiiey were not there.

Help to Meet Obligations, T. S. Itonaldsoi), chairman of the- Soldiers' Financial Assistance Board, attended with the secretary r.' the board, Mr. S. J. Wills, to give evidence. Mr. J'.oimldaon gave nn account to the Commission of the purposes for which th& board was set up, and of the nature of tot work done. He said that in considering applications for assistance tho board took account of the pre-war turnings of the soldier, but did not tako into account the earnings of a woman in poor circumstances. If a man were killed Hie custom of tho board was •Vi • continue the allowance until the pension payments commenced. Ho considered that the Pensions Board should take into consideration a man's obligations in the case of hie being totally incapacitated, and believed that the board did so. It was not considered that the 10s. 6d. a week allowed for a child was any more than enough, and no part a! it was extracted to meet -..bligations. The board on occasions increased the allowance, for it was considered that 10s. od. a week would not keep' a child of from 10 to 11 years of a»e. Tho board had now hold 'M meetings to date, and considered {1806 applications, including 838!) new cases, and Ul7 reconsidered cases. _ The Minister had approved of grants in 5101 cases at an annual expenditure of Tho average was therefore less than .£32 each. There had been rather an outcry because tho board had reviewed soino grants after tho •Government increased ''he allowances on January 1 last. In all 35(12 cases were roviewed. and (hero was a reduction in grants of .£60,321. There were 500 requests for reconsideration, mid on account, of tho changed circumstances granU to the value of .£1320 were reinstaled. This money went to nbout 200 of the applicants. He said that in some cases the allowances and pay with assistance amounted to more than the man's wages as a civilian. "In fact," he declared, "I shudder to ihink what will happen when some of the husbands come biick. Tn some cases their wives will- not want them back." Sir. Ronaldeon said that only in three eases had tho board found it necessary to grant the maximum amount. High grants were needed in the case if men who' had unimproved places in course of development. These places could not be leased, and no rovenue could bn recovered from them.

Mr. Eonaldson said that the board thought of effecting some improvement and economy in administration. This could bo done by having all payments made by the board office, instead of as now by' the War. t Expense» Branch. The present arrange mints caused some ■ ver lapping, and led to delays in paying out to dependants.

Base Records. Ben. C. Waynes, of Base Records Staff, appeared at his own request to give more evidence. It appeared that he wished to criticise the evidence c.f other witnesses, and this he did briefly. Ecferrinp to his own Department, ha inatli' several suggestions for the more economical and efficient working of the staff and the office generally. He urged again the point he hail made formerly—that girls should ho more freely used for claric.nl work. He said that plenty of girls were available, and their employment instead of N.C.O.'s and men clerks would save much money. Back from the Front. Lieutenant E. .J. Haydon and three othors of the. retuvnod 'N.'-.O.'s wore called to give evidence, the eh.air.van slating that their names had bf.vn selected at haphazard, without their knowledge. The.three N.C.O.'s weru Co-jpaiiy Sergeant-Major Donnelly, Sergenat W. W. Carter, and Q.M. Sergeant Graybivrn Lieutenant Haydon <;aj<i t!:al he hiul been selected for it eomniasion at the front, and had gone through t!io cadet course in-Trinity College at Tloiiir-. ■ had been .held about the camp since ■Vpril 8. Ho had had no duties, had never besn. asked, to give instruction but had given instructian in Nw methods. The object ot .th* Cadet College wan to wtablwli a uniform system of training, so fh.it junior officers should be interchangeable. New Zwland seemed to be out of touch or behind-nar.d in some way, although the nutte on vhicn they clashed with British methods were not very important. So far as work hero was concerned, the training ho had had at Trinity Collegu was wasted, but it would be vahmblo when he got back to the Division. Ho was not doing any instruction hero at all.

To Learn New Zealand Methods, Q.M.S. F. W. Graybum said that beforo he came to New Zealand he held tlio rank of regimental qimrteruiastcr-scr. want. When ho was sent back iw was told that he with others were to relieve moil in the home force here lie had sis weeks' special training with the Scots Guards. Since he went to camp on April 9 he had done practically nothing. Ho was told that he would have to go round l-lio stores of the camp mid learn the Now Zealand methods in order that when his turn camn to go forward he would know New Zealand methods. In the Scots Guards and in tho New Zealand Forces :it Sling a very much smaller number of men were used to do quartermasters' work. Ho was to be sent away «-ith the Forty-first Reinforcements. ?»ere were fit men in the CJ.II. Mores who wero to remain at Trentham.

Not Made Use Of. Company Sergeant P. C. Donnelly said that ho with oiw other was sent back to New Zealand-as he understood for duty Ho iindersbood he was to do instructional duty. When lie arrived at Trentham he and others were lnlormccl that tho authorities had no advice, about them, and that there were no duties for them They had all been ignored He held an Aldershot certificate in bayonet fiL'htinp which waR considered the best at the front. He wished to say, however, that Hie physical drill and bayonet iig itinK at Trentham were "verv guod. 1 e was not averse at all to p-iiic hack to France, but ho did think others who had been so long in camp hero mig it go befnro him. It appeared to him that there was wasto of time in tho training here, ami men wero not taught "the essential 6luff"-no bombing, no gas drill. Tho chairman: Can't thoy do that better at Sling? , , Witness; No, sir, there is not enough

time. My experience at Slinjj was a_sixhours' course in each of these subjects and then over to I'rance. 'Jim chairman: But there is instruction at Elaples. Witness: "They don't keep men thevo too long either, bir." He adJctl that no considered that there was time for this instruction in the New Zealand camps, lie said that when he was at Alaershot in 101G the English custom was to call in youths of 18 years old and train them for "a year. lie did not know the present English course of training. Sergeant W. W. Carter, N.Z. Engineers, sai.-l that he, too, had been sent back for instructional purposes, but lie was now udvisad that he was to leave shortly with a draft. He was not given instruction work. He had been with tno original'force, and had been continuously with the force since then In tno unit to which ho was; now attached at 'I'rentham there was no instruction being given in field engineering, tho men having ljaen there for eight or nino months. One fault in 'he instruction hero was that men ivere rot taught onou»'i aljout trenches, land nothing about wire. Men sometimes were rushed across to Trance without much training, and it had happened that men went into tho line without having seen wire. It was the opinion of all four witnesses that the training Lore could 1» improved with the help of men with knowledge of warfare conditions at tho front.

Waste of Rations. Quartermaster-Sergeant Grayburn said that at Sling, where- he was regimental quaitermnster-sergeant for eighteen months, the number of men employed in administration, was considerably less than half the number ised at Irautham. All the men were C-class men. if a man became fit he was sent forward to the front. At Sling there were 105 men on the administrative branch of Ins battalion, and the number was cut down before he left to 65. In lreiitham the administrative strength <s shown by a, recent parade state was 49 tfiicers and 10M other ranks. This would include branches not included at Sling. lor the four battalions at Sling there would be many less than 500 men <,n oil branches of administrative work. If the same methods of rationing were i sort hero as at Sling many men could lie saved, and a saving'of 35 per cent, in cost and rations could bo made. The Chairman: 1 don t tlui.lc you could r,avo as much as that. We woro out there, you know. . Witnes-3- I could do it, sir. He went on to explain that the present rationing system at Trentham was "out of date. There should bo big cook-houses, and big dining-rooms. The- chairman said he leared that it would -lot bo possible to mako the change now owing to the enormous preliminary cost. He also said that lie did not think !here was anything like 35 per cent, of waste. . Witness said that tho ration scale at Honie was almost exactly half the New Zealand scale, and yet the men in camp in England said they were fed better at Sling than here. , The food was better cooked and letter served. He believed the men could bo well fed on 35 per i cent, less food than was used here. From his own observation lie i:new that n quarter of tire food was riten wasted. The men had to learn not <o waste in England, and they should bo taught hero how io do it. From -\.hat ho had seen of feeding hero he would jreier to k- in the men's dining-room in Sling any time.

The commission adjourned until this morning.