THE COUNTRY’S DEFENCES
In announcing the extension of the term of office of the General Officer Commanding the New Zealand Forces, Major-General Sir William Sinclair Burgess, for a period of two years from April next, the Minister of Defence explains that this step has been rendered necessary in view of the Government’s plans for the reorganisation of the country’s defences. Some indication.of his intentions in this connection was given by the Minister some time ago when he outlined the scheme for strengthening .the Air I’orce, but it is possible that more far-reaching proposals have been evolved as a result of the conversations which took place between the Government and Sir • Maurice Hankey, Secretary of the Imperial Defence Committee, on his recent visit to New Zealand.
Concerning these conversations there have been requests in the British House of Commons for some enlightenment. None has been vouchsafed there so far, Sir Maurice being not yet home. Whatever may have been the original intention of his Empire tour, it was more than a private visit in the case of Australia and New Zealand: that the two Governments have never attempted to hide. There may be more reason for silence concerning the advice tendered and the decisions reached; but the New. Zealand public will look to Mr. Cobbe for an early announcement if any major changes in the defence system are contemplated. Whatever the “remodelling and strengthening,” however, it is a wise provision .that the services of the present General Officer Commanding should be retained, in order that his knowledge of the present condition of the forces may be available in reorganisation.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19350107.2.25
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 87, 7 January 1935, Page 6
Word count
Tapeke kupu
268THE COUNTRY’S DEFENCES Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 87, 7 January 1935, Page 6
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Dominion. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.