ORGANIZED MILITARY SETTLERS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 60, 21 August 1862, Page 3

ORGANIZED MILITARY SETTLERS.

(From the Taranaki Herald.) Whatever may the results of the coming campaign, they are scarcely likely to be so decisive as permanently to relieve us from all fear of another collision, and to make any further defensive arrangements unnecessary ; but we may confidently say that the more complete we make our arrangements for the protection of our lives and property, the less danger is there of their being attacked. TV e can conceive of no better guarantee for our future safety than the presence of a body of military settlers, trained to meet the enemy on any ground, and whose own interests are involved in the security of the settlement; and we venture to suggest to the military authorities in the Colony that they could not in any way more truly serve the real interests uf Great Britain than by freely leading their assistance to the organization of such a force.

No doubt there are difficulties in the way, one. The proposition to pick out, without resonie of which will naturally occur to every serve, the best men of the British army, in order to form Colonial forces, would probably excite the indignation, or the ridicule of many a gallant colonel or captain. Neither should we dream of making such a proposal. But it may be worthy of consideration whether the chance of obtaining some still higher reward than those which the soldier can now hope for would not tend to promote sobriety and orderly conduct; and whether, in the present circumstances of the Colony, that reward might not properly take the form of a release from Her Majesty’s service a certain number of years before the ordinary term for the purpose of enrolment in a Colonial force, which would, of course, be paid on a scale more proportioned to the greater value of labour in the Colonies. In what form New Zealand will, for the future, contribute her share, and what is to be the extent of her contribution, are questions which must probably engage the attention of the General Assembly this Session. In the past three years we have had practical experience here, in Taranaki, of the efficiency and ot the defects both of the regular forces and of local and temporary levies, and this experience has produced on many a strong belief that a permanent local force, well trained to meet the savage on his own ground, and employed on days not required for training, either on lands allotted for the purpose to each man, or on useful public works, would combine the advantages and avoid the faults of both the forces we have seen in action ; and would be the most ecomomical and efficient form in which the Colony could contribute its share towards its own defence.