DOMINION DEFENCE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 15, 11 October 1937, Page 3

DOMINION DEFENCE

Our Own Correspondent.)

Training Difficulties Under New Systein C0NCERN EXPRESSED

(From

WELLINGTON, This Day. Concern at the manner in which the Government is approaching the changed defence policy is oxpressed by officers in the various services here. While it is admitted that the actual working out of the Government 's new plan remains to be tested, serious prac* tical difiSculties are seen in the way. For instance, officers in the country districts are almost in revolt against the system of teleseoping the original commands and foresee that there will be immense difficulties in the way of training competent men. The changes in the country units, indeed, aise expected to result in loss of interest in the service and a corresponding fall in the usefulness of the force. For instance, there used to be three regimental districts, the Hawke's Bay Regiment, which embraeed a great portion of the east coast of the North Island down almost as far as the Rimutalcas, the Wellington West Coast Regiment, whieh extended from Manawatu up to the Patea river, and the Taranaki Regiment. These are now amalgamated into one battalion. The cdnsequence of this is that the commanding officer of the new battalion will be in New Plymouth, the adjutant wOl be in Napier. One platoon presumably will be in Gisborne. A company, possibly, will have its headquarters in the Manawatu district. Similarly, there is now a mounted rifle regiment on the East Coast of the North Island which covers virtuqlly the whole of the territory from Wairoa downwards. In these circumstances it is impossible for officers even to know their men, and battalion drill or advanced m&npeuvres of any kind'are not feasible. Similarly, the reduction of the training term to six days in ' annual camp and four week-end bivouacs is going to have the curious result that for seven or eight months of the year there will be no training at all. The first bivouac will be held about October and the annual camp in Febfuary — the annual camp will be the climax to the four bivouacs and between those two months there will be no contact between men and' officers at all, which will, of course, make it very difficult to do any useful training in camp. In addition, the abolition of the specialist training at secondary schools is being deplored because it is said this will reduce the work at the schools to a dead, flat level. It is pointed out that while it may be true' that f ew of these boys joined up with the Territorials after leaving schools it was not because they were not keen — specialists are declared to be among the most keen — but because many of them were working for examinations. Also, it is declared that it is impossible to say just how the speeialist courses of a week, which the Government has instituted, with a bonus for efficiency, are going to affeet the annual camp, but they may prove to have a bad efifect. Beyond these matters of organisation, what is most deplored is the fact that the territorial system still does not feel that it has Government support. It is pointed out that Mr. Savage's recent statement in the House of Representatives that departmental heads were enjoined to allow the members of their staffs to attend Territorial camps "subject to departmental convenience,, is not giving a very good lead to the employers, who are certain to feel inconvenienced at the absence of some of their 'staff, and did a good deal of complaining even in the days when it was compulsory for the men to go into camp. • A definite lead is asked for from the Government to hearten the Territorial force, which still does not have the consciousness of the Government being behind it. Finally, it is pointed out that, despite the reorganisation and the eff-ort to get better value for the money, it

is likely that the new and somewhat dubious system of training will be more costly than the old. For regiments will now be expected to go into camp as mechanised units, which will mean that they will have to hire buses and a fleet of motor-cars for their bivouacs and annual camps, a fact which is going to result in considerable expense to the taxpayer.