THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1882. THE VOLUNTEER BOARD.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2461, 24 February 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1882. THE VOLUNTEER BOARD.

General Davidson, Majors Pitt, Hamlin and Lean, and Captain Crowehave, we are informed, been constituted a Board to investigate and report on the condition of the Volunteer service. Their duties are described as follows :To examine thoroughly into the working of all branches of the Volunteer service ; to review the whole system; to revise the regulations in detail; to consider the present mode of examining and electing officers and the principle on which the command of the various districts is allotted and the permanent staff engaged; to devote particular consideration to the best mode of so limiting the number of the Volunteers as to keep the expenses within due bounds, whilst securing the highest degree of efficiency. While holding that a general report on the state of tht Volunteer 0 rvice can do no harm, yet we hardly feel inclined to congratulate the Government on the choice of the members which it has placed on the Board. We notice on it the names of several gentlemen who are so intimately connected with the old state of affairs, which has proved so unsatisfactory that it is difficult to understand how they will be able to shake themselves free from the trammels of past associations. What is wanted more than anything else is the inoculation of the new ideas of the times into the life blood of the service. That there are practical men en the Board is true enough, but we should have preferred to have noticed in its construction a larger element of that spirit which is not wedded to the past, but is always looking for ftesh improvements. More of the War Office spirit, in short, and less of the Horse Guards. For any alteration in the system now in force will be of no use whatever unless it is made with a special eye to moving out of the status quo. The system which is in present use is indeed less to blame than the spirit in which it is carried out. And with regard to this the Board may tell the Government some home truths. It is all very well for Government to appoint Boards to examine into Volunteer matters, but how do they assist the movement themselves? We are not now alluding to the capitation grant which was knocked off under financial pressure, but to other matters. The Government, for instance, have at intervals sent round experts to report on the state of the Volunteers in the country. These experts have come to Canterbury and have reported that Volunteer matters here were not satisfactory at the time of their visit. And what has the Government done ? Why carefully pigeon-holed the reports. If there had not been an innate vitality in the movement, we should have expected to have seen the whole affair break up like a house of cards. Major Scratchley'a and General Davidson's reports were, as far as this part of the world was concerned, merely waste paper. The Government did not choose to inquire strictly into the matter. If they had done so they would have found that the men were being drilled on a plan that was sure to disgust them, and that, particularly, they learnt nothing of the science of skirmishing and of fighting in open order: they would have discovered too that the Volunteers in the out-districts were neglected in the matter of drill instruction; and that there was an amount of officialdom and red tape at head quarters ridiculously out of proporI tion to the number of the forces. It was not that the Government felt a modesty about interfering because no capitation grant was paid, because the same thing had previously taken place when the the grant was in full swing. Wo—the Government had merely no time or inclination to attend to the matter. If they had looked into the complaints made by these experts it is more than pro- ! bable that there would have been no necessity for the present Board. Again, with regard to the various encampments, Government might very well see that they are something more than opportunities for displaying skill in shooting. Ifistructions might be issued that the encampment might be made a field on which to teach the pcactical duties of men on /campaign. Without neglecting the shooting, this might fairly be done, and the Volunteers attending would feel all the more interested.

Again, with regard te the examination of officers, if the Government had only paid proper attention to the matter, it would not have required a Board to ehow them that the present standard required is ridiculously low. If the officers are to he capable of satisfactorily commanding the men, and of gaining their willing obedience and respect, it is evident that they should know their business, and be, moreover, posted up in all the modern improvements in the science of war. That a large number of officers in Canterbury know nothing of these improvements has been long patent, and it does not require a Board to show this.

In point of fact, in looting through, the list of subjects which the Board have to consider, thore seem to be only three which might not easily have been grappled with by the Government in the light of the materials already in hand. These three are—the election of officers, the best mode of limiting the number of Volunteers so as to combine economy with efficiency, and the principle on which the command of the various districts should be allotted. Even these subjects might, we fancy, have been very well managed by the Government withont the appointment of a Board. There is one thing certainly in favor of the Board. "We fancy that Volunteers in general, looking at its constitution, will not expect great things of it, and where much is not looked for there can be no disappointment. Economy seems the order of the day in Volunteer matters, and, no doubt, properly so, but still we trust that the Government will seo its way towards giving the Volunteers some assistance, if only to cover their bare expenses. A uniform, say every three years, and a capitation grant of, say 10s, would be a very grateful boon to the companies. Volunteers are, as a rule, poor men, and cannot afford much money. The force has done lately good service for the State, and it would be a grateful recognition if the State, on its part, wore to show, in a practical form, its appreciation of that sorvioe.