DEFENCE MATTERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 June 1915, Page 4

DEFENCE MATTERS.

The Auckland Star severely criticises the -Defunct; Department in Xew Zealand. In the. course c.l' its article it says that it is time for '.Ministers, as well as the country, to realise that the administration of Defence affairs here is in a very unsatisfactory condition. It is useless to ignore the palpable fact that while the authorities are crying out for recruits, and Mr. Allen lias been suggesting that it may he necessary to call upon married men to make up our reinforcement quotas, the Department seems to he quite incapable of dealing with the very large number of men who have already offered themselves for service.. The fact is that the number ready and willing to go to the front is really in excess of requirements, hut instead of keeping closely in touch with all who register, and providing at on«e some form of training to bring them up to a definite level of efficiency before they are actually needed. the Department, is keeping them waiting about in a state of uncertainty, and is thereby likely to damp the eriV thusiasm of every one, and to discourage some of them from going altogether. A recent cable from 'Sydney states, on what appears to he reliable evidence, that Xew Jiealamlei's have already gone to 'Australia to enlist there, because the arrangements here are so unsatisfactory, and many young men ready to go to the front are compelled to wait in uncertainty for a long time before their services are in any way utilised. A Wellington correspondent, writing to the Sydney Evening Xews, points out with great force that the system of enlist -ment here is very ineffectual and discouraging. The young men who have enrolled "o hack to work, entirely uncertain as to when they will be -wanted, and sure only of three or four days' notice before they are called upon to go into camp. The employers also are left in an unfortunate position, because thev do not know when the men will be drafted off. "In the majority of eases." says the Evening Xews, "the employers have applauded the action of their employees in enlisting; hut it is often very disturbing to their.businesses to know that these men may he called at any time, at no longer than a week's notice, to go into camp. They cannot make definite arrangements to fill the vacancies, became they do not know when the men will he called, and whether, when .they are called, they will pass the medical test. The last-mentioned matter is considered to be one calling for immediate remedy hv having the applicants examined when tliev offer for service. Each man would then know whether he was ■fit- or unfit, and his employer would he relieved of much of the uncertainty which now prevails." It has been suggested as a remedy that committees of business men should take over the whole work of recruiting here, and should leave to the 'Defence authorities only the purely military organisation and training of t!;:-' who enlist. But. in the opinion of the Evening Xews, some improvement 01: tlift present system is necessary, unless the Defence Department here is prcpar ed to see large numbers of our youivr men (locking over to Sydney and Melbourne to take advantage of the more satisfactory facilities provided there.