SUPPLY OF OFFICERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 314, 14 June 1915, Page 6

SUPPLY OF OFFICERS.

PROBLEM FOR- THE FUTURE,

LONO PERIOD OP TRAINING.

HOW MEN AUK SELECTED.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent) Wellington, Last Night.

Tlic Defence authorities have had to give special attention of late to the maintenance of the supply of officers for the expeditionary forces. When the war began the Minister of Defence, acting in the spirit of the Defence regulations, laid down the rule that in the selection and appointment of officers preference was to he given to men who had reached commissioned rank in the territorial forces or in any section of the Imperial Army. The officers commanding districts were entrusted with the duty of .making recommendations with regard to the choice of officers from I the forces under their control. The system has been maintained' up to the present time, and it has worked well, providing a constant stream of qualified officers for the various reinforcement drafts and for the. special expeditionary force now in Trentham camp. No officer, it may be mentioned, lias been given a permanent appointment merely because he held a territorial commission. The men who were recommended as suited for commissioned rank with the. expeditionary forces have been put on probation in Trentham camp and they have had to prove their worth before they were passed finally for service at the front. A fixed period of probationary training lias been obligatory in every case, and this system has promoted efficiency in a marked degree. The scheme has had the special advantage of bringing the officers into contact with the men they may command in the, field during the period of training and so laying the foundation of that mutual knowledge and respect that the military authorities value very highly.

■Lately the Defence authorities have had to face the task of devising a new scheme. The supply of territorial officers is not inexhaustible, and the time is in sight when the commissioned ranks will not lie capable of being filled from that source. Indeed, there would be an actual shortage already if the expeditionary forces had been forced to depend entirely upon the territorial officers already trained iwlien the war began and fit and able to go to the front. The new scheme involves the training e-f ollicers partly from raw material in the form of civilians but more generally from the suitable men to be found among the non-commissioned olh'eers already in training or about to go into training. The. ordinary period of training for a private or a trooper in Trenthain camp is four months. Kon-commissioncd ollicers are called into eanip one month in advance of the men they are to handle, »nd they are put through a special course in preparation i'or the duties they will have to discharge when the recruits arrive. The same rule applies to commissioned men. Jioth the. commissioned and the non-commissioned ranks are on probation during the preliminary period, and it follows, therefore, that a non-commissioned oilicer is in camp for five months before he leaves iS T ew Zealand. Under the new scheme some of the "non-coms." will be given the option of remaining in camp for an additional period of four months in order to qualify for commissions. Their total period of training in camp will be nine months. The time is long from the point of view of the man who longs to g'ct into the firing line, but the military authorities are frrm on the point. Ko shorter period will suffice to produce the standard of military and technical efficiency that the Imperial Government demands from officers who are going to undertake the enormously responsible duties of their rank at the front. , The Minister of Defence mentioned this matter to a representative of the New Zealand Times yesterday in connection with a telegram from Auckland concerning a suggestion that the northern province had not received its "share" of commissions in the forces. The Minister had already supplied Auckland with figures showing that up to the present time the commissions had been distributed very evenly over the various provinces, but he stated that provincial considerations could not be expected te» weigh witli him or with the Defence Department. Under the now conditions efficiency would bo the sole and the final test, Under the scheme of promotion now adopted the non-commissioned officers selected for the extra period of training, with the object of qualifying for commissioned rank, would be the men best qualified for responsible positions. Their place of residence prior to their enlistment would have nothing to do with the. matter at all.