THE TERRITORIALS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 12, 19 May 1913, Page 7

THE TERRITORIALS.

NEW PROVISIONS. A statement reaches ns from the Acting-Minister of Defence which he is desirous of circulating owing to the fact‘that some misunderstanding stil prevails in the Dominion with regard to the. obligations imposed upon the citizen soldier by the terms of the Defence Act. In this statement it if made clear that any part of the Territorial Force shall be liable to serve in any part of New Zealand but no part of the Territorial force shall be orderec to go out of New Zealand, all servief outside the Dominion being purely voluntary, as in the case of the Nev Zealand contingents sent to South Africa.

Section 22 of the Defence Act, 1909 states: “Any pipt of ;tlie" Territorial Force shall lie' liable ,tb serve 1 in an} part of New Zealand,,but no part oi the Territorial F J orce shall 'be carried or ordered to go’dut of Ne'w Zealand,’ 1 'while :sections,and ,28 of, the same Act reads: “All the male inhabitants of New Zealand, between the ages of 17 and 55, not hereinafter/ exemptd, who have resided ip New Zealand fot a period of six months are liable t( bo trained and serve in the militia. lr timb pf.wiu] it jthall be lawful for ,tk. Governor ('the,,occasion being firsi communicated, to .Parliament if Parpa, nient is then sitting, of notified, by Proclamation if Parliament is not then sitting) by Proclamation, to call up on persons liable to serve in the militia to enrol’in the militia, and thereupon such persons shall within the time and in the manner prescribed enrol in the .militia for the prescribed period.”

Further provisions were made in the Defence Amendment Act, 1912 and the sections which deal with this particular matter are as follows: “When the Territorial Force or am part thereof has been called out fo; active service in New Zealand in accordance with the provisions of this Act in that behalf, every member of the said force or of that part thereof shall at all times while he remains under the obligation of active service bo subject to military law as established by the Army Act, save so far as that Act,.is inconsistent with tin principal Act, or any amendment thereof, or with any regulation made thereunder. The Governor may by Proclamation call out the Territorial Force or any part thereof for active service. The,Territorial Force, or any part thereof shall be liable to he employed on active service in New Zealqm from the tune of the publication of the Proclamation so calling put that Force, or that part thereof, until the publication of a Proclamation notifying that the active service of that Force, or of that part thereof, is no longer required.” It should he clearly understood that no provision exists in the Defence Ac', for calling out Territorials to assist the Civil Police in quelling'Viots and otherwise upholding law and order. A good deal of misconception has existed as to the number of permanent officers and officers employed with the Citizen Forces, but a table prepared by the Department gets nut that the proportion of permanent officers and non-commissioned officers is one to every 188 men in citizen training. In the permanent force the proportion is one officer to every 29 men.