The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 178, 28 July 1880, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1880.

The reports of the Inspecting Officers of Volunteers, General Davidson for the South, and Colonel Leckie for the North Island, have been presented to Parliament. The latter has nothing to say beyond reporting upon the condition of the various corp3 he inspected ; the former comments not onlj' up on the Volunteers but upon volunteering, and offers several valuable suggestions for the reorganisation and reduction of the force. Commencing with the officers, he is of opinion that the present standard for first commissions and for captaincies is too low, and that, low as it is, a very large proportion of the officers are not up to it. He then points out what should be required of them. Kegarding the men, he says: — "No finer material for a Volunteer Force, whether as regards physique or intelligence, could be met with than the men I have seen during my inspection, and it is my conviction that all the good men of the Force, who gave so much time and labour to qualify themselves to serve the Colony in time of need, would gladly see and aid in a stricter enforcement of discipline— a discipline, that, under all circumstauces, when on duty or in uniform, would exact from them the steadiness and obedience of a trained soldier." He finds fault with the Drill-sheds, all of which, with the exception of those at Invercargill, Dunedin, Oamaru, Cbristchurch, and Nelson, are far too small for exercising the members properly. He. also objects strongly to the system of drilling by night. IJnder. the headings, " Style of Drill," " Recruits," "Books," and "Equipments," he finds fault with the present system , but he is not content with this, and proceeds to show how aud in what respects the defects be pointa out may be remedied. With regard to the minimum, now fixed at fifty, below which if a company falls in numbers it loses all claim to capitation, General Davidson considers this limit as a hard and fast line for all corps to be too high, its tendency being to hamper commanding officers and reduce their influence and authority — which should be increased rather than diminished — by compelling them to keep men on the rolls, for the capi-i tation grant, whom they would othorwise rather be quit of. He suggests 30 as a minimum, as this would give greater latitude to officers to get rid of men whose worth as Volunteers is nil. During bis tour of inspection he made it bis business to gather as mnch information as possible on all points connected with the Volunteer

system, and this, together with his own observations, has led him to tbo conclusion that the Fores, aa at present organised, is not efficient for the purpose for which a military force is maintained. "It is composed of a large number of men only partially trained and drilled, aud of officers, very many of whom though zealous in tho movement are not fully qualified for the duties they may be called upon to perfdrm, and who have not under tho present constitution the necessary means and opportunities to enable them to qualify themselves. The force consists of a number of iinita acting independently and often at variance with each other, There is the want of an executive head, one fixed system, and a proper chain of responsibility from below upwards." He then gees on to say:--" To attain such an organisation as a military body to be efficient requires, would, with the present numerous scattered force.; necessitate a very great increase to the expenditure, and tbe question naturally arises— -la so large a force necessary for any contingency that, . so far as can be foreseen, is likely to occur? If this be answered in the negative, the next point to determine is whether it would not bo wiser, and in overy respect better, to have a smaller force, all ranks of which should be fully instructed in their duties, properly equipped, and only located at places where their services would be likely to be required, and from whence concentration iv any direction might easily be effected, and which might be maintained at a considerable reduction on the present charges. lam of opinion that this would be a more satisfactory footing to place the force upon, both in view of eventualities that may arise and for the Volunteers composing it. The points for location are naturally indicated, viz., Invercargill, Dunedin, Oamaru, Timaru, Christchurob, Picton, Blenheim, and Nelson, and the reductions I would propose are those of the outlying and inland corps, and also cadet corps* Theße last, so far as I have been able to gather, do not as a rule answer the purpose for which I conclude they were organised — to act as feeders to the adult corps ; I do not mean to imply, that no cadets join tbe adult corps, but that the numbers that do so, are not in a fair proportion, nor in such a state of efficiency as to compensate for the, expenditure incurred upon them. I consider from the geueial intelligence of the population, that a recruit joining at seventeen or eighteen, would in twelve months or leas be as efficient a member as a lad who had been drawing capitation from the age of twelve, and joined a corps at seventeen." General Davidson •is careful to state that his recommendations as to cadet corps in no way refer to school corps, but these, he thinks, should not draw capitation nor be put in uniforms. The report, as a whole, is characterised by good sound common sense, and there is very much in it that the Defence Department may take into their serious consideration, and will do well to act upon. In criticising the various corps which he inspected General' Davidson is not at all mealy-mouthed in speaking out where he considers censure is called for. For example :— " Of Volunteer matters m Marlborough I regret that my report must be unfavorable. The Picton corps are, as regards drill, at a very low standard, and from the condition I found them in, and which seems to have been the normal state of things for some time past, I certainly should have recommended their disbandment, were it not that upon enquiry I found that they bad been much neglected, and that under their new Commanding Officer, Captain Kenny, they wfire likely to recover themselves. The Drill Instructor had only attended once in twelve months, and on my speaking to him, he told me the pay he received did not allow of his attending at Picton. Ho had no-uniform, and for this also he save me the same reason. I heard afterwards that he is much disliked by officers and men, and that they will have nothing to do with Mdi, as he is quite incompetent as an instructor. I saw enough to convince me that, whatever amount of pay he receives, the money, as far as his services aa Drill lustructor are concerned, is thrown away." Outspoken criticism of this kind enhances tbe value of commendation coming from tbe same souroe, aa it shows that it is only accorded where deserved, and we are glad to find that in many instances General Davidson is able to state that he was well satisfied with the results of his inspection.