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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 321, 10 July 1912, Page 4

TIIE, COMMANDANT'S REPORT,' The i Territorial organisation is believed | by the average citizen to be in fine work- [ ing order. It is tr.ue that the prelim- , inary work has been done and that it , has kept a large staff corps more busily employed than any single member of it ' had expected. Indeed, the average staff officer,-warrant officer or non-com. "did not krtow what work was" until the old ■ system was superseded by the new. When Lord' Kitchener laid the foundation 'of the New Zealand Territorial system he rfamed a price for its instalment and administration that took the breath away. -The expense has almost approxi- ; mated to Lo'hl Kitchener's estimate already. It will, of.coursej reach it. All the "work, done up to the present time is mere preliminary. No effective Territorial force as yet 'exists, but an enormous amount, of extensive office and administrative work has "been done. The ' weakness.of the, present method'is that the major portjon of.j-he staff corps con-office-wouk. -It is a peculiarity of the present' administration that, stiff officers are not only more largely, employed ipdoors tiian outdoors, •but ,i they -have, staffs of s civiljan 'ckrkj - wliota it is-'necessary to employ. - Tkqj-e is, of course, a tremendous amount of circumlocutory' work. Although the adminstrative at'd clerical work is spread over so many people at headquarters and districfr"head,<juarters it happens that besides an enormous nyiss of detail office work, group .sergeant-majors and instructors generally have to travel tremendous distances ( arid do real training work -which is subsidiary to the mass of they also do. It is necessary jthat J the'o,ffil'e of the Territorial forces .shall be arranged so as tq release a large •number of the officers, warrant officers and for actual training purposes. General Godley, it is presumed, in furnishing,his-report which has been presented' to Parliament, has been permitted to say exactly'what .he thinks. ■lf this is so, it is the first occasion on which a military report has not been '"sub-.edi.ted" by. a politician. General Godley's .methods, however, are quite distinct from that of any officer, who has 'preceded him. Early"in his career in New Zealand he realised that .the New Zealand public ai)d the New Zealand soldier nvas a touglv proposition, that if he did not sing the praises of both .constantly his-life 'would be made unbearable and'he would be criticised as every other commandant (has been criticised. Because he is a remarkably astute and able man the commandant has seen that in order to get reasonable results from the New Zealander he must be perpetually praised and exalted. He lias been able by the exercise of uncommon tact to draw the teeth of the small bodies of military objectors, to pacify absurd little cliques and to apologise to soldiers for making them train. The skilled diplomatist probably indulges in a large .smile at times. It is purposeless to criticise methods which the G.O.C. finds so pacifying. The facts remain, however, that the methods adopted are circumlocutory, that the element of favoritism has not altogether disappeared, and that, although the internal office organisation may be perfect, the actual results in trained men do not justify the preliminary expenses. The fact also remains that although interest has been aroused by the exceptionally tactful and skilled work of General Godley, there is as yet no direct interest shown by the public or any really national spirit in regard to the matter of defence. If in the future our politicians should decide that the expenses of the Territorial system are too great and should destroy it, it is doubtful whether the public would protest at t'lie destruction: or show enough spirit to initiate a system which depended for its efficiency on unselfish service and not on money voted by Parliament out of loans. Sooner or later the past expenses of the military organisation must attract the attention of politicians. The gauge of utility is not in the amount of paper covered by typewriting in the headquarters and district headquarters' offices, but in the number of trained and efficient men who ifrjjtifjMiiiiifhil SflllT fnl T fT'T -

ped in the shortest possible time. As yet the people of New Zealand have failed to realise that the embodiment of a force of citizen soldiers is for aggressive and defensive purposes. The enormous sum being spent on the force makes it necessary that an adequate return in the finished article shall be supplied. What is "not" required in the service is a multiplicity.of clerks, who are either ■ civilian clerks or staff officers. A clerk should be a clerk and nothing else; an officer should' be a soldier and not a clerk; favoritism by which junior and inexperienced officers' are bumped suddenly above the heads of experienced officers; the overworking of sergeants-majors; kowtowing to the rank and file; obeisance to the public and to every small arid unimportant body that jumps into the breach to prptest' about something or other; and a constant, exhibition of the claim that the scheme is successful before actual proof of the contention has been The citizen who supplies the cash (or at least pays the interest on the borrowed eash) is entitled to know what would happen if the New Zealand forces were obliged to take the field to-morrow. Would the force move out efficient, fully equipped and keen and imbued with the requisite patriotism? If not, is the mass of typewriting for what we have paid by bulk, of the Defence Bill worth the candle ?