NEW ZEALAND TERRITORIALS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 358, 6 May 1911, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND TERRITORIALS.

© —© CONDITIONS OF SERVICE AND TRAINING. (Continued from last issue). THE TRAINING. The training of the cadet and soldier throughout will be strictly territorial that is to say, it will, except for the one week a year spent by the Territorial soldier in camp, be carried out within reach of his home and at convenient times. The whole of the training will be arranged with every possible consideration for the interests both of the employer and of those who are being trained. It will be one of the chief duties of the officers and warrant officers of the Staff Corps and Permanent Staff throughout the country to study the conditions of life in their areas; they will be responsible for assisting Territorial officers in arranging the drills and parades of their companies so as to interfere as little as possible with the ordinary workinglife of tha men and the local conditions of employment.

Special arrangements will be made so that employers will not lose the services of all of their employees at the same time. For this purpose the employees of any one firm will, as far as possible, be posted to units which will be called up, for training at different times. Special arrangements will also be made for individuals, such as dairymen and others, who work singlehanded and would find it impossible to get any one to do their work for them when away in camp. In dairying districts camps will usually be held in the winter.

The minimum amount of training which must be performed each year by every member of the Territorial Force, Reserve, Senior Cadets, and Rifle Clubs is as follows: Territorial Force.—(a.) Thirty drills, twenty of which wili be out of door parades'. (b.) Twelve half-day or six whole day parades, all of which will be exercises in the field, except in the case of Garrison Artillery units, which will be exercised at the works of defence to which they are allotted on mobilisation. (c.) Seven days annual training in camp (exclusive of the days of arrival and departure), (d.) Prescribed course of musketry. Reserve.—Two half-day parades or their equivalent with a Territorial unit or company. Senior Cadets. —(a.) Fifty drills. (b.) Six half-day parades. (c.) Prescribed course of musketry. Rifle Club^. —Prescribed course of musketry. A dirll in the Territorial force is li hours continuous instruction. A drill in the Senior Cadets is one hour continuous instruction. A half-day parade is three hours continuous instruction. A whole day parade is six hours continuous instruction. An out of door parade may be carried on in the evening and will not be devoted entirely to drill, but will include route marching, outposts by day and by night, entrenching, signalling, driving, etc., and such work as cannot conveniently be carried out indoors. In the case of Artillery and Technical Corps the proportion of out-door parades may be reduced at the discretion of the CO. The principle is that the drill-shed should be avoided as far as possible. The above scale is not really as formidable as it looks, and the drills, parades, etc., are interchangeable and convertible—i.e., in the case of mounted units in farming districts, who wish to make their training progressive and find difficulty in doing so owing to the members being widely scattered, there will be no objection to their being assembled at convenient times for a week or so in place of some of the drills or parades and it is to be noted that the six whole day parades can be accomplished in two week-end camps of three days each, or on six Saturday afternoons between the hours of 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. At the same time it must be remembered that to be of the best value, training should as far as possible be continuous throughout the year. It has been decided that this is the irreducible minimum that must be performed if the Force is to be efficient. It is little enough, but with their boyhood's training, their favourable surroundings, and their natural aptitude for the work, there is every reason to believe thtit the men of this country will make really good and efficient soldiers. THE TERRITORIAL FORCE. It must be remembered that the New Zealand Territorial Force is the first line of defence of the Dominion after the Imperial Navy. Its position cannot be fairly compared with that of the Territorial Force in the United Kingdom, which has the Regular Army and Special Reserve in front of it. The New Zealand Territorial Force must be able to take the field at once on the outbreak of war. It is the New Zealand Army ; and the permanent officers of the Staff Corps, the permanent regiment of the Royal New Zealand Artillery, and the warrant and non-commissioned officers of the Permanent Staff are its auxiliaries to control, guide, and instruct it. The Territorial Force will be about 30,000 strong, and will be organised in field and coast-defence units with practically the same establishment for peace as for war. In each of the four military districts into which the Dominion is divided there will be a brigade of Infantry, a brigade of Mounted Rifles, and a brigade of Field Artillery, as well as the necessary number of Garrison Artillery for coast defence, three companies each in Wellington and Auckland, and one company each at Dunedin, Lytteton and Westport, a field company of Engineers, and Medical units and other Departmental troops. An Infantry brigade wiil include four battalions and a signal company; a Mounted brigade, three regiments of mounted rifles and a signal company and a brigade of Artillery, two fourgun batteries.

The Force will be fully armed and equipped according to the moat modern standards; the men will be uniformed by the State, and will be paid and rationed during the Annual Camp. The units of the Force will be commanded and trained by their own officers, assisted by the Staff Corps, the Permanent Force, and the Permanent Staff. The Regimental Commander will have plenty of professional soldiers to help him and to relieve him of administrative duties, but no one. to interfere between him and his regiment. The officers will be drawn from the ranks on the recommendation of Commanding Officers, and will be appointed, promoted, and retired in accordance with definite regulations calculated to insure their efficiency and their status. THE SENIOR CADETS. The unit of organisation and training in the Senior Cadets will be the company of Infantry. Companies composed of cadets belonging to any school or the recognised organisation (such as the Boy Scouts) will form part of that school or organisation, and be subject to its discipline supplemented by the Regulations. In dealing with such companies and in the appointment of their officers, the military authorities will co-operate with headmasters and with the heads of such other recognised organisations. The Senior Cadets will be officered by officers holding Territorial commissions on the Unattached List, with the same, qualifications and liabilities as other Territorial officers. In order to simplify the control of cadets, it has been decided by the Mnisters of Education and Defence that for training purposes (not registration —all over 14 must register) all pupils attending primary schools will be considered Junior Cadets, and all pupils attending secondary schools will he considered Senior Cadets, j irrespective of their ages. j It is hoped that in many cases Scoutmasters and others connected j with the Boy Scout movement will be j not only officers of the Boy Scout Cadets, but also will command units I of Senior Cadets, in which the Boy j Scout Cadets are incorporated. | The military authorities are anxious j to foster the Boy Scout movement in I ! every way, and, in return, hope for j the assistance of all Boy Scout officials I in the Senior Cadet training which by | law has to be undergone by Boy I Scouts as well as all other youths in the Dominion. THE RESERVE. Men of the Territorial Force Re serve will be borne on the reserve lists of their late corps, and perform their annual parades with some part of that unit or corps. THE RIFLE CLUBS. The Rifle Clubs, being part of the New Zealand Military Forces in virtue of the liability of their members to serve as a Secondary Reserve, will be governed by the Military Regulations, and will carry out each year a prescribed course of musketry. Such, briefly stated, is the scheme. It will not come to fruition in a day nor in a year, but if it is carried out in the spirit in which it has been conceived, there is no reason why New Zealand should not have a thoroughly efficient army in the near future. The object of the scheme is not only to provide an adequate and economical Force for the defence of the country, in which everyone who is physically fit must serve, but also to train the youth of the Dominion in those habits of alertness of mind and body, of dicipline, and of patriotism which are the qualities of the good citizen as much as of the good soldier. It is clear that such a scheme must depend for its success on the help and co-operation of the people themseves: not to have served in the national Force should come to be regarded as a misfortune. The State will provide the means; the permanent officers, M.0.0.5. and men the machinery ; and the Staff the skilled control: but the people must provide the spirit that will give life to the scheme and make the Territorial Force a national institution.