UNKNOWN.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 147, 25 June 1914, Page 3

UNKNOWN.

jSI&.iAa HAMILTON'S KEPORT. j i THE SUPREME REQUIREMENT, j • CLOS^ I ,?/S A'l:ioNS BETWEEN | ! OFFICERS AxVD MEN. I i ■ _»—_ s !, J n T"-&sda}-'s issue were published';, details or the main features of the 1 i , report presented to his Excellency the ! j Governor by General Sir lan Hamil- j « ton, Inspector-General of Overseas i > forces. ' ; j On the subject of unit concentia- i ! tions in the country, the Inspector- J (General says,:—"After carefully in-' i specting many country corps, I am i I quite- certain that the one thimr the : I men require above all others is to be ' ( brought into closer touch with their- ' ' own officers and non-commissioned ' ; officers. _ Casual driiifii-g by a peri- I : pate tic instructor can never compen- ; • sivto for this personal (.ouch between ; : omceio and men, which in a citizen : i force can only be established during ■ . ! tlie period oi company and squadron « • training. Here again it is clear that i a.'J in© of demarcation can be drawn. i ,\\ herover a squadron or company can j without undiio hardship bo collected to drill and exercise as a unit under ' its own officers, tJio-ro the existing system of hon)e training is perfectly , soiuid. Otherwise it unquestionably . would bo preferable to substitute for homo training ■concentrated squadron ; o:- company training of at 'least n v.-oek's^ duration, to be hold at some convenient place an<S time prior to V o a&sembl # y of battalions or rogi- . n-.^nts for the statutory annual training. _ Squadron or company concentrations should bo'arranged locally by j • .•*(■;uardron and company commaudi3rs. « £ Th^ less the higher authorities inter- ? '" fere the Jjfttfccr. Tlioy should not cost' iuueh. liations and forage only t: would have to fee provided by thY 3J

Government. Pay would be unnecessary, in. that the men would only be carrying out the obligation which their comrades in town fulfil without payment. la many instances camp would be unnecessary, as accommodation' in barns, shearing sheds, or even billets could doubtless be arranged for locally.' General Hamilton declares: "I have advocated nothing startling or miraculous. New Zealand is not advised to travel to distant Aba«a and Pharpar, but only to give its owli familiar Jordan a fair trial for three years on past root principles; and the root principles and methods now recommended have been -recognised more or less, and have also beei; more or less applied. Set the seal of thoroughness on a great work already at least half-finished,. This is bhe crux of my advice. Beyond question the training of the Territorial force has now reached a stage of development which will admit of the detachment of the instructional staff from units being carried one step further. Beyond question, regimental officers will soon be capable of running their own show with, .much • less adventitious aid froni regular adjutants and sergeants-major than they have hitherto enjoyed. For routine work during camp training and in the field these regular assistants may still be indispensable, but at other times the best part of their work could quite adequately be performed by assistant adjutants and by the permanent quartermastersergeante of units, for in the future unit commanders will neither have ► the responsibility for training recruits, nor, under the proposals in Section IV., will they henceforth be burdened with moss officer work. I recommend, therefore, that it should be within, tho power of district commanders to decide to what extent the services' of any member of the permanent instructional staff should at various periods of the year be placed a,t tho disposal of unit commanders; otherwise they should be/regarded, as being normally under the orders of the area commanders. '

"Discipline, tho main force of armies, is closely allied to organisation. Such a sense of cohesion ar.d c-f being undfer wise ■.ma.nagein&nt as good organ^xtion can give, amounts in itself to a sort of • discipline.' Up to this point the forces of New' Zealand ar^v disciplined. B'urther,' there is a common wi&h running throrigli all ranks—a wish • to do well. Where ever3one wishes to do .sometliing tliere is no strain on discipline. In this negative sense, aJsq, the forces of New Zealand are disciplined. But the real test of discipline comeis when men are ordered.to do something hardand disagreeable—something which appears to them unnecessary or mistaken. ■ To put it plainly, a deep moral chasm intervenes between a 10 miles march on a fine day and oji a full stomach and a 25 miles ■■inarch om a dark night on an empty stomach. Let us but get a thorough habit of discipline on _ top of glowing New Zealand patriotism, and. no one in. this world could wish for more. What is needed is that officers, especially company officers, should understand clearly that they are for the time being fathers and mothers to the lads entrusted to them for a brief period by the State. They^must know-each man, not by name only, but the nature of the man. They should;be able to guess what he is thinking aboiJt without waiting for him to speak, and always they must remember that they, should issue, no command trom any petty -personal motive, but ever and only as responsible, trusted agants of a sovereign State. At present all this may seem to he hard. Under the conditions of training which I have suggested, elsewhere it will be much easier, and, should these suggestions find acceptance, I nave no fear as to the form or ; thoroughness of the discipline which , will characterise the New Zealand forces."