The Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, JULY 18, 1907. THE “CHAYTOR” DEFENCE SCHEME.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3769, 18 July 1907, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, JULY 18, 1907. THE “CHAYTOR” DEFENCE SCHEME.

For the year ended March, 1907, the Defence of New Zealand cost this suffering Dominion ,£157,603 15s Bd. Next year’s appropriation and expenditure will be very much larger, because the system has been revised under the new Council of Defence, and a new broom sweeps clean, and costs more than an old one. As a matter of fact the new Council has shown clearly already that the old system was too cheap. If the expenditure of the above named sum pf money (which, of course, is borrowed,) gave the Dominion an adequate defence, perhaps it might be justified, but, as everyone ought to know, it gives us mostly frill. We do not accuse the Defence Department of failing to make volunteers effective, but we accuse the Administration of playing with the question of defence, and in throwing money away in training a few men to do the work that the whole of the country will have to do. The idea of the volunteer forces being the “ backbone ” of a fighting force is absurd, because when the worst comes to the worst it will be found that the ‘ ‘ backbone ’ ’ of the country will be the “ backbone? ” of defence — the farmer, and the man who works on the land, generally considered. The man on the land cannot spare the time the Government sets aside for him to acquire the art of war. If conscription came, the Government would, of course, be able to force any man to serve his period at any time of the year — shearing, flaxmilling, harvesting, etc., notwithstanding. Now, seeing that universal service must ■come, and, seeing that the present expenditure on defence might cover the expense involved in universal service, the ideas of Col. D’arcy Chaytor, a competent New Zealand officer, are of interest. They have, up to now, not been published. His scheme for universal service in New Zealand is not the scheme of a martinet, seeing that, although it would be compulsory, the time during which a yearly training should be put in by any individual would not be specified by the Defence Department, This officer’s scheme is that every man between the ages of 17 or 18, and 23 or 24, should be compelled to undergo a month’s training each year, for three or four years, after which, he might, of course, be passed to a reserve, and be liable, should occasion arise, to be called out. The instructors and staff of officers would be permanent, and paid. The men who put in their service would be paid while they were serving. There would be depots (i.e., barracks) in each district of the Dominion, to which a man might go at any time during the winter to put in his training. You see, a man may belong to a volunteer corps, and the annual training may take place just when he is in the thick, of his year’s work —at shearing, or grassseeding, or flax-cutting, or what not. He cannot train, unless he thows up his job. The system outlined by Col. Chaytor, is a system which considers the convenience

of the individual. The individual (or, at least, the individual who is the most use for defensive purposes) probably has some slack time or other in the year. During this time under the system, he might present himself at the district depot, and become a soldier for his annual training. He would be actually a soldier, and be under the full military discipline, which, could be enforced, as he would be paid. But during the next year he might be at the other end of the colony. Under the system, he would not have to travel to his old barracks to put in his second or third terra. He would simply present his last discharge at any barracks, and be taken on the strength of the regiment in quarters. Drafts of time-expired men would leave as men presented themselves, and, as it would be an offence against the law not to present oneself once during the year, in time there would be no difficulty. Another suggestion is, that a school of instruction for dflficers be a part of every depot, and that every man who desired to as an officer, put in double the term necessary for the militiaman of the rank and file. We do not know whether Col. Chaytor believes that the ordinary volunteer corps should exist as well as the paid part-time militia, but if so, there would be a great weakness in such a system. The whole idea is to make the whole male portion of the population effective defenders, and the volunteers could be swept away, seeing that the service would be compulsoiy, and, therefore, “volunteering” an anachronism. It is impossible, under the present volunteer system, to get 50 per cent, of the strength of any corps in camp for the annual training, so that the men who cannot attend on account of business, are absolutely debarred for a whole year from doing anything at all useful in the way of learning the art of defence. Under the Chaytor system, although the training might stretch over the greater part of a year, and every year, there would be constant changes in the personnel of regiments, as men able to do so were drafted in, and men who had completed their year’s course, were discharged. A uniform system would make the wearing of gorgeousness undesirable, and it would, in our opinion, be unnecessary to supply each batch of “ recruits” with new dress. Most military clothes are chopped out by dies, and are in sizes. Also, under the Chaytor system, the uniform would be of the very plainest, simplest description. Under benevolent compulsion of this kind, it would be unnecessary to appeal to the “recruit’s” love of gaud, because, it the “recruit” didn’t come along during the year, he would be visited by the police, and asked to show cause. What was compulsory on everyone, would be no hardship to anyone, as every man might choose the time of service he could best spare to get away from his civil work, the general scheme is commended to every person who believes that every person should do the best he can for the best country on earth !