THE OFFICER AND HIS CRITICS

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 18 April 1901, Page 4

THE OFFICER AND HIS CRITICS

Wanted—A Sense Of Proportion. P>v a Regimental Officer, in the "Daily Mail." Pretoria. Our critics again, and to some extent the general public, have shown a not unnatural restiveness under tho continual recurrence of wha: have got to be known a.-, "unfortunate incidents" ; and if such news is so hard to bear at home, it must

be remembered that the sting of these occurrences leaves an even sharper smart among all ranks of the Army in South Africa, which cannot but feel that it is implicated, as a whole, to some extent. At home, tho chief and rather querulons outcry on every occasion has been to tho effect "that never previously in the history of our army havo we had to suffer the indignity of so many surrenders, sometimes nfi'ecting no inconsiderable numbers of troops. Quite so : but it is also fair to remember that never in the history of our Army has so large a force been employed in the field nor has any force ever been scattered over such an immense chain of lines of eommunicntion, to say nothing of th? extent of the theatre of war. The Personal Equation. As regards numbers engaged, which the public at large -seem scarcely to realise, it may not bo out of place to point out that jU3t bofr.ry Lord Roberts commenced his general advance on BloomFonteiu the numbers of troops at Modeler river alone exceeded those commanded by the Duke Of Wellington at Waterloo. From the very vastness of the numbers enlaced, it stands to reason that, with our small Army, some of the troops can have been only partially trained, while a large portion of our force, especially on lines of communication, where most of these "regrettable incidents" have occurred, has consisted of unseasoned and auxiliary troops. Against the incidents above referred to, it would ha only fair for the critic- to put into the scale such events as tho defences of Ladysmith and Mafeking, and minor affairs—such as the Elands River convov defence, tho investment of Sehwczsr Reneke, and more recently the holding of H imelfontein by a handful of Yeomanry and Grenadier 'Guards, against, in all instances, imuxmely superior forces of the enemy —nil of which, it must be recollected/ ate results of our much-malignf-d tr tilling. The fact is that in all serifs of " regrettable incid-nts " thu personal equation enters so largely into the question that no system of training ■ oukl fairly be held responsible firthhcra satisfac ory or th" contrary result.

lixpc.icncs; Its Price and Yalue. My contention is that is is want of traiii'inj; for South African warfare and not ignorance oi military science which should be alleged against our officers aud men. I do no' in the least wish to assert that our past training has been conducted on the most enlightened lives, or that both officers and men have not much to learn ; but I think that the weight of evidence of this war goes to prove that we have an Army of which wo shall not feel ashamed when it comes to fighting on tho method required by European conditions either as regards bravery or training. I? I further think that if we utilise the vast areas which our newly acquired South African colonies offer for perfecting all arms in long range firing, in scouting, which is untloubtingly our most serious deficiency (and this probably from our upbringing among the woods and small enclosures of England), and in manoeuvring troops on a largo scale, we shall have done much to carry out the needed reforms in the training of officers and men. But it must be always before our minds when training troops in South Africa that it is preparation to meet a Continental enemy which is now required, and not a special training for warfare against the masses of mounted infantry of the two Republics which; havo ceased to exist in South Africa.

Moreover, it will undoubtedly he necessary for some years to keep a very large garrison in South Africa. It should not, therefore, be difficult to arrange a scheme by which practically every cavalry soldier and a very large proportion of the artillery and infantry of the line shall spend some of their colour service in that country, which, it will be, I think, generally conceded offers finer possibilities for the training of troops than any other quarter of the globe, combined with a climate which must do good to even the frail constitutions oi: our worst cases of special enlistment.