The Daily News. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1915. MORE MEN WANTED.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 October 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1915. MORE MEN WANTED.

"We want 4000 more men for the Tenlii Eeinforcements by the first week in November," stated the Defence Minister on Wednesday, and "the Defence Department invites every able-bodied single man of military age to register bis name at one of the recruiting offices, in order tiiat we may. be in a position to call up recruits as they are required." To get these men and others to follow every six weeks will require vigorous recruiting. It will also necessitate the mending of the ways of the Defence Department. In to-day's telegrams we are told of a party of three young men from Wanganui, who, disgusted with the way they have, been treated in New Zealand, are oil' to Australia to enlist. If this were, an isolated instance it could be passed without comment, but it is not. We know of dozens of willing, likely young men who are anxious to serve their country, but who have been t'eated very shabbily by the Defence .Department, which seems to set itself tie task of placing as many difficulties as possible in the way of enlistment. Men do not like to be kept hanging about in a state of uncertainty. They have their personal and business affairs to arrange, and thev should receive every help and encouragement at a time when the Empire stands so badly in need of the -rrvices of every ablebodied man. The fact of the mailer is that the ReiVnce Department is incompetent, unintelligent unbusinesslike. 1 ho Defence Miiiittcr k yealnu-;. pat riotle, wi'li-iiitcntioued, but ;i hopeless incompetent, who has not had a business training, never has been "up against it," and never will see the necessity for change in the administration

oi the one department of State that vsally matters at the present time. If he were less obstinate and had even an imperfect idea of his, own shortcomings as an administrator, he would Fiirruinul himself willi the beat brain* in the country —ami they are available for the asking. But that is 100 much to expect. ilr. Allen believes he is a heaven-sent organiser and administrator and an efficient soldier, and conceives it to be liis duty to thrust aside as unworthy of serious consideration any suggestions proffered to improve matters and more efficiently al.d speedily achieve the end in view. Mr. Allen us chief of the Defence Department is a hopeless failure, and we are reluctantly forced to the opinion that whilst he occupies the position the very necessary improvement in the administration cannot be looked for. We will give a few instances ci the way things are being conducted. Last summer, officers in command of the Trentham camp training complained of (be insanitation of the camp and made certain 'recommendations for its improvement. The cost entailed was a few hundred pounds, and the camp could have been rendered quite healthy. The Department tabooed the scheme on the score of expense. After the disease that subsequently oroke out as ft result nf the disregard of the warning, taking toll of over twenty valuable young live 3, the Government spent thousands where hundreds would have sufficed if taken in tiaifd at the right time. At Trentham and the other camps at present, there i? a dearth of efficient non-coms. There are dozens of men able and willing to do this wuvk outside camp. In Taranaki, for instance, there are quite a number of efficient officers rounding up tardy territorials or doing clerical/ work that could iie done better by girls. Why are they not seir; down to the camps to act ps instructors? A captain in the old volunteer t'uiccs applied lor ft foumii*-

.-'iiii u- sub-lieutenant. -He is an ellicient. ofliccr, but the Department preferred raw youths with no practical experience, and off ere 1 him a corporalship. The •heroic young veterans who stormed the heights of Oallipoli, one would have thought, would he just- the material out of which good officers for the reinforcements i on:tl b'.' made, but they are not even considered. The Department prefers inexperienced boys. ■ These very troops, the men who have made the world rijia with their deed.-, of rtlor a.t the Dardanelles, are not even kept t'ack of by the department. They' are discharged, and—-can yon conceive it'!— if they wish to return to the front they have to apply as recruits! Here's another case, vouched for by the FeiMing' Star: \ company of some 20 or 30 of our young men doing garrison duty in Samoa felt impelled to get away from such pleasant enervating pastures to the actual firing line. They made it known to the powers that be, in Samoa that they felt, they could be serving the Empire best bv being transfeircd to Gallipoli. The reply was as r.ftonishing to those ardent patriots ns to us. They were told that the only way their desire could be carried out would be by getting their discharge in j Samoa—but then they tvould have to pay their own passage back to New Zea. j lard, and there lake the chance of j getting on again as recruits! One of the worst features of the present mismanagement is the unnecessary pain tiiat is caused to parents of wounded—aye, even of the dead —sons by the utter callousness that is exhibited by. the (flicials. There is no system of promptly dealing with enquiries as to tic wounded. Parents are unable to ascertain where their brave lads »r», or from what they are suffering, but are compelled (•> live day after day in tense suspense and anxiety. But what is worse than all is that after a death has htcn notified and the usual perfunctory letters of condolence have been sent, that a day or two subsequently, the department should send riotive that the iran whose death they have already regretted, and whose burial had been recorded, !>•!(« ir. hospital, and stating the nature of the operation, just as if he were still alive. Picture the horror of a sorrowing mother on the receipt of such treatment: Yet this cruelty has been perpetrated in Taranaki. It Is beyond human endurance, utterly inexcusable, and a grave scandal. There are other instances of the callousness and ineptitude of our Defence Department. we could give, but we have said enough to show the necessity for an immediate overhaul of the whole machinery of the Department. "When I conic back. I shall make the welkin ring with what 1 can say. and prove, about tin) Defence authorities, their indifference and callousness, their inefficiency and wastefulness," wrote a high-placed ofliaT on leaving New Zealand for the shores of Gallipoli, but, unfortunately, he lias made the supreme sacrifice, and it must be left to other hands to bring about the improvement in the methods of the Department. The first improvement is to retire the Minister. We must perfect our recruiting end training' system by every means in our power, for we want badly enough every available man. We cannot afford to turn filling and desirable men awav a?, we. are doing.