DEFENCE FORCES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 60, 31 July 1914, Page 6

DEFENCE FORCES.

COMMANDANT'S REPORT. PROGRESS OF THE TERRITORIAL SCHEME. NEXT YEAR'S OPERATIONS. Tiie annual report on the Defence Forces bv the General Ollieer Conunanding (Major-Gcneral Sir Alexander Godley) was presented to Parliament tin; other day. The report gives a comprehensive, "view of the past year's work, and many references are made to Sir lan Hamilton's recommendations, In this connection the Commandant states that three main recommendations stand out conspicuously:— (a) That the Quartermaster-Gener-al's branch at Army headquarters and in districts shall he'so reconstituted as to free commanders as far as possible from administrative work, and allow them to devote more, time to the train-, ing of troops. (b) That in country districts, to avoid overlapping and waste of time, energy, and money in the travelling of instructors, concentrations in small bod' ies shall take the place of drills and parades, and forage and rations shall be provided for the purpose. (c) That, in order to ensure squadron and company officers train their own men instead of relying on permanent adjutants and instructors to do it for them, the instruction carried out by the permanent stall's shall he primarily devoted to cadets, recruits, general training section, and reservists, .and also that in order to again avoid overlapping; and unnecessary travelling their sphere of action shall be strictly geographical. The report states that these are being put into effect at once as far as possible. DRILLS AND PARADES.

"I am compelled to reiterate; my opinion that there is still too much lack of variety in the instruction given during drill hours, and too much use of drill halls," the General says. "While it is important that all ranks of the territorial force and senior cadets should he thoroughly grounded in drill, it must 'he rehiembcrcd that the hours allotted for tliis purpose should not he allowed to become irksome or monotonous. Work must he varied to retain the interest of those instructed, and in the long days of summer and in line weather drills must lie held out of doors and in the country. Drill-halls should only he inside use of in had weather and when the days are short.

"There has been a noticeable improvement in attendance during the past year, and the improvement in discipline, steadiness, and f'.rili as shown at the inspections of tile Inspector-General of tile Oversea Forces is very marked. "In accordance with the recommendation of the Inspector-Oeneral. drills in country districts will he gradually replaced by the system of concentrated training' indicated in paragraph SS of his report, providing that money for the purpose is forthcoming. This system will also apply to the whole and" halfday parades 'in the country. In the neighborhood of towns where the system of regular drills and parades will still hold good, valuable work has been done during the year, and will continue to be done, by the assembly of units, for a day's held operations. In some cases, tin; co-operation of arms iias been practised, and 1 hope still more will be done in this direction. OI'FICKUS AND MEN'.

Of work at camps, the Commandant says:—"l must again impress on all concerned the necessity of olliecrs appreciating more seriously their responsibility for the care and comfort of th'.'ir men in their squadrons and companies, and call attention to the fact that this weakness in our system became at once apparent to the Inspector-General, hi many units olliecrs only meet their ran at tl»' annual camp, and this opportunity .should he taken, and tile best use made of it, to get well in touch witli the men. No oiiiccr* can hope to lead their men unless they lirst capture their respect and in-.- in sympathy with them." OKI'TCKRS: J-'KOM THK RANKS.

"It is unquestionably ipiite time," be says, "that the training of the territorial force should lie undertaken by its own oiiiivr.. and in this connection I would call spocial attention to the. re, marks of the inspcctor-lionoral on the. subject. 1 am glad to say that in sonic units the territorial commanders have already assumed their proper responsibilities in this respect, and have been at much pains to render themselves lit for the purpiisc. The efficiency of these units as compared with those who stiil rely ah..:,1 entirely on the pcrhuuiont instructor, is 'most'marked. There can be no dilliciilty about it in the towns, v, lieie units are concent rated; in toe country, where ;i subordinate commander has been hitherto rarely able tii assemble a sipiad of men, the proposed system of concentrated training will remove any iliiliculty. Only in this way. by .!i L'nnininL' nut only to iit themselves for. but also to practise, the instruction of tin ir men, will tcrritori.il oliicers and non-commissioni d officers acquire the habit of command, without which they cannot expect to lead their men.''

llicif <( Hi;oLS AND ARTILLERY WORK. "Chrisfs r.-l'ege. Nelson College, and Hamilton High School have been cipiipped with a section of 1.-.-pr li.L. liel.l gun-, si. ! , ie instructed br the pcrnianent N "■■■ ■! the field Artillery cadres ill gun diiii. iirc discipline, and riding. These cadets have all carried out practice with satisfactory results. The headmaster of tiie Auckland Criminal- St! 1 has promised to detail a detachment, of his bo.s for artillery work when the new school buildings are opened, and we are also endeavouring to arrange with the Ptago High School to the miuk: elVect. Hitherto, tie- main difficulty lias been the provision of storage accommodation for the guns; this has now been overcome. The i|iiest.ion of withdraw-in"-some of the 1.-i-prs. now used as mobile armament by the Carrison Artillery and issuing them to school cadet.-, is 'he';,"considered and a valuable source of a -apply of material f,.;- all ran!- of j.h - field baltc-;ies ensured. mri.i-; clubs. During '(!„. year! ti,i'■;,','■, thirleen di--.,iided. Luring the '|!a-l Car a j'.ii 11-i-r m-e-sioii was graded markers. If :!!!,- .In!,- are to be ,-,:n-tevrilori-il force, more should be done

I'.v ili-i'i i" lh<- I'.H'iU (.1 iirl.l li-ui.iinjr lc t„ i;,k, (!„. ,;,.i,| i; ~,.. [ I'.V ~f ;,|l HijiUi-V Value than iiaiiviihlal |irarlii-is. The iudlviniial n.iliMii- en II;,. nui;:r i,. (IM |» „ |'i'..;iii,ii,..i-i ~, l |„. ~„,:,• important held l"-">'ti..,.. T,r in.,;,. ,L<,i -C, lli:i il of <„,. I'v, r-r:i ]-„im..-, wii-; favorably impressed In (in' i> ! .!n..ir i r.i<v ami beariim of thi.se nil,' -!nli i.'i.u in-i11.!,,,! I-, V 1,j„, : jj, j s 1" be hnpeil. therefore, that all riile | flubs will net upon his advice to briii« j liy degrees their methods of shooting in-

'to greater harmony with those of the 'territorials. By this means only will I they qualify themselves to take the field with the rest of the citizen army. Some of them are already doing it; others have still to take the plunge. Wheii they do, they will quickly become as useful an adjunct to the field army as those who have already adopted up-to-date methods and taken to drill and field practices." NEXT YEAR'S TRAINING. Speaking of next year's training work, the General says: "I think it is very necessary and desirable that the efficiency of our defence schemes for the two principal defended ports should 'be. practically tested. I propose, therefore, with this end in view, that the coast defence troops of Wellington and Auckland shall be encamped and disposed at their war sta tions according to the approved schemes, and that while they are so encamped small mobile columns of all arms, consisting, as a rule, of a regiment of mounted rifles, a hrigade or battery of artillery, and a battalion of infantry, shall be encamped outside these cities and within striking distance of them. The coast defence commanders of the South Island and brigadiers and commanders of other units will, I trust, be able to attend these camps as well as their own. There will be many valuable lessons to he learnt. Up till the last two or three days units will be at the sole disposal of their commanders. The state of war which will then exist will afford a valuable test not only of the defence of the ports, but also of the mobility of the columns which will attack them." STRENGTH OF TIIE FORCES. The strength of the territorial force on April 30th, 1014, wan: Territorial force 25,(13-! Senior cadets ?,5,332 Rifle Clubsfa) General training section 3,7"2!) (b) Ordinary members 2,077 Total 57,322