Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star FRIDAY-DECEMBER 14th 1917. DEFENCE EXPENDITURE

Hokitika Guardian, 14 December 1917, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star FRIDAY-DECEMBER 14th 1917. DEFENCE EXPENDITURE

The appointment of a Defence Expenditure Commission is a practical step taken after being long overdue. Tho daily outgoings on account of defence expenditure is enormous, and any action to check and rectify the work of the several detachments controlling tho admi nisration, must have a useful result. Anyone who goes to Wellington and pays a casual visit to the camps, must be surprised at the staff engaged in the multitudinous offices spread through the city and the military quarters. The staffing is often the more remarked, because with the apparent plethora of clerical labour available, replies to enquiries and attention to various matters are protracted beyond reasonable time. The affairs of soldiers take weary months to elucidate, even when details are known to have reached a point of focus. Any reform or reorganisation which will bring relief under this head would be very acceptable to those who through tho stress of circumstances have to do with various branches of the Defence Departments. There are two main departments connected with tho class of Defence Expenditure which will bo worthy of special attention—those departments controlled by the Ministers of Defence and Munitions. Tho detail in both instances must he very great, kind an expert revision of the inside administration is sure to be, beneficial to the country. Although remote here from the centre of Defence activities, there are still occasions brought under notice from time to time where there appears to !be under extravagance in carrying out the duties imposed'‘by Parliament. The imposition of •’military service seems to be carried out in in a very expensive way, and laTge costs must be put upon the country which by more reasonable methods, could be saved. There are military service and medical boards, and the latter particularly. s oems to be very unwicldl.v in their size. When travelling by railway. ordinary accommodation is not good enough for the gentlemen composing these staffs, and special carriages are provided. This sort of thing happens month by month here, and if it is going on over the Dominion day by day, there is little wonder if the charges are mounting up. There is also a wealth of khaki going to waste, when those folk might just as well disport themselves in mufti. The military service boards are not yet uniformed, but those

in attendance are, while the medical boardg are hooted and spurred and starred to tho fullest extent. All appear t to be officers of some degree, and no , doubt the salary list is guaged by the'. military titles which these folk ex- I change with one another. It all sounds I very warlike, and from a strictly military point of view might be very proper, but in these democratic times the people believe in thing s being conducted ou moro practical lines, and nob in expensive and useless show, which only builds up the hill the country has to foot. Our correspondent' at Wellington touched on the matter the other day. and iti is satisfactory to find that there is some inside criticism in the Empiro City along the linos, here referred to. There of course, the position must he extreme, and it is to be hoped as a result of the light let in, the present enquiry will lead to a good deal of radical and useful reform.