PLAYING AT SOLDIERS. Can We Afford the Game ?

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 72, 16 November 1901, Page 8

PLAYING AT SOLDIERS. Can We Afford the Game ?

SO Geneial Sn Hector Macdon aid has given v«, the benefit ot his views upon the kind of military system we need in NewZealand The most careful prepaiation and scientific oiganisation foi defence, he says, are immediately necessary Therefore, the obvious inference is that we have not got them yet. although \%e have spent hunch eds of thousands of pounds towards that end Fighting Mac ' is also of opinion that soldieis of oui own manufacture are urgently needed and that they would be hailed as a blessing and a comfort ' And he enjoins "diastic discipline on the manoeuvre ground and implicit obediencL to ordeis as the means towards the evolution of a defensne foice, drilled trained and disciplined, and ready to fall in and stand to attention the moment the ruleis <f the country press the electnc button ot necessity • • • If we were a Continental State, situated, say, like Switzerland, in the very midst "of powerful neighbouis, no doubt there would be cogent leasons why we should strain all oui energies to get into such a state of military preparedness as to yield an instant" response to the alaium of that electnc button But om remoteness fiom Old World politics and complications leheves us from any such necessity And, with all deference to Sn Hector Macdonald. we have the temerity to join issue about the defensive requisites of this colony We want none of the "diastic discipline of the bariack-iooni We require as little as possible <f tinsel, geld lace, and fanfanonade We can get along very nicely without the paraphernalia of a standing annv » • • If we have learnt anything at all from the war in South Africa, it is to appraise highly the worth of a defensive foice possessed of great mobility, self-i chance, and trained to precision in shooting Given these requisites all the laboriously-conned lessons of the parade-ground and the thousand and one minutiae of the manual and platoon exercises go foi precious little Let us not be misunderstood We do not want to discourage volunteenng m New Zealand Quite the contrary We w ould encourage it by adequate capitation, but we would insist upon that capitation being earned, not by mere attendance at drill or inspection paiades, but by the passing of prescribed shooting and tiding tests * • • Let us lop off the superfluities of large staffs, encomage the formation of rifle clubs throughout the countiy, pay far greatei attention to the nfle iange and loute-maichmg, and fai less to the manoeuvre ground Aftei all. our main line of defence is the naval squadion Next come the harbour forts and mines Behind these we want only a force that has been trained to shoot straight that can be promptly concentrated at a given point and is both mobile and self-reliant It is not that scientific organisation which makes an army a mere fighting machine, and reduces the units to the position of so many automata, that we need It is merely a citizen soldiery, untrammelled by red-tape chafing undei no "di!*"-

tic diM-iphne bo^ed b} no unwielch <aff of maitmets but. emulous to ex eel in lifle-shootmg and 1 eady to take the field the moment theie is a toe to lepel * * *■ At piesent we aie paying fai too dually foi our military whistle Theie ]>> too much of the speetaculai element about it Quite a small standing aviv is beiug built up, and already we have enough colonels, majors, and staff officers of one soit and anothei to complete the mil.taiy establishment of a Eui opean State Theie ate too much flummeiy and fine featheis and the eountiy can well dispense with these Even in case of war with a fiist-class Powet a descent upon New Zealand 1-, an unlikeh contingency, and if it wete attempted the landing would not be effected with any great force, and would soon be dislodged or captured As things go. the severest affliction thi>- colony suffers from is the scarlet, 01 rathei khaki, fevei It is time we shook it off As a people we can become expeit with the rifle, and are able to look after oui selves without keeping up a reoulai standing army