COL. DAVIES' APPOINTMENT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 120, 29 August 1910, Page 5

COL. DAVIES' APPOINTMENT

NOT A PERMANENT ONE. Wellington, August 26. In answer to a question by Mr. Heaton Rhodes in the House of Repre-, .sentatives on Wednesday last, the Minister for Defence (Sir Joseph Ward) stated that Colonel Da vies' appointment to one of the infantry brigades at Aldershot was a permanent one. In this it would appear that Sfr Joseph had been misinformed. As a matter of fact, no brigade command is permanent, or ever has been so. Article 70 of the Royal Warrant governing appointments, pay* etc., stipulates that the term of all staff appointments shall be four yeaijs, and definite information has been received in New Zealand that Colonei Davies' appointment is for four years. As to the pay connected with the ap-' pointntent, it is, if in quarters, £BBO per annum. If not in quarters (such quarters being a* very good house) it is £IOOO a year. In addition, three Government horses are allowed and two soldiers as servants. The 1 idea that Colonel Davies has gone "permanently" and that his services in the future cannot be obtained in connection with the Dominion's defences may, therefore, be dismissed from the minds of New Zealanders. Indeed, it is known that important officers in Britain are well aware that there is not room enough here for both a commandant and an inspector-geneTal, and consider that the War Office, by taking the last-named officer, while supplying us with the former, are effecting an exchange that will give us first of all an organised military force, and, in the course of about four years' time, a man of our own as commandant.