TRAINING OFFICERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 May 1916, Page 2

TRAINING OFFICERS.

NEW ZEALAND SYSTEM. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, May 24. The Minister for Defence explained in the House of Representatives to-day the method of drawing officers for the Hainforcements from the ranks of the noncommissioned officers ■ in the training camps. Selected recruits are given two months' probationary training with the draft prior to its departure for the front. Towards the conclusion'of this training period they are allowed to sit for examination, and the stair delects from among the men who qualify for commissioned rank the number of second lieutenants required. Tact and ability to handle men count more than mere technical knowledge in the final selection. The chosen men are transferred to later Reinforcements. While the other non-commissioned officers go forward with their draft. The system is a good one, and it is supplying successive Reinforcements witU a certain number of officers of the fight stamp. The men who reach commissioned rank in this way iiavc had six months' hard training, and they have proved themselves competent in the face ot keen competition and in the severe conditions provided by the training camps. But unfortunately there is another channel for the young man who wants to reach commissioned rank in the Expeditionary Forces. A Territorial officer is eligible for a' commission in the forces if 'he has lield his Territorial commission for twelve months. Originally the period was six months. Against the experienced Territorial officer wlio 'jfts taken'"his soldiering seriously there is nothing to be said. But the system has been abused. Cases, could be quoted where men have secured commissions in senior cadet companies, have attended a few drills, and have finally reached the training camps as second lieutenants with practically everything to learn. All they need in order to achieve this is a recommendation from the district commandant, and apparently there are strings that can be pulled in these matters. The officers who have reached the camps in this way include many competent men, but as a body tliey are certainly not the equals of the trained non-commissioned officers whom-they are keeping from commissioned rank, and- who often must help to teach the men who have been passed over their heads.