COLONIAL FORCES.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 January 1917, Page 4

COLONIAL FORCES.

LORD NORTHCLIFFE'S CRITICISM. EXPLANATION OF POSITION, By Telegraph.—P" Association. Wellington, Jan. 20. Inquiries regarding the criticism or lord NorthclilFc on the New Zealand Division in France, to the efi'ect that, tiie training of our men here was too long, slow that to carry out the suggestion o;' shorter training here would mean speeding up the. departure of existing reinforcements in camp. In other words vc should he sending three drafts, comprising 7500 men, ahead of our commitments. This, however, is impossib'i of achievement, because the transport is not available.

To apply the proposal to succeeding drafts here would mean that they wo'.tll receive less training in New Zealand without reaping any advantage in the, ,rar zone, the reason being that to meet (lit existing commitments they would ret arrive in England a day sooner. It v.ottld only mean that the date of their mobilisation here would be postponed, not that the date of their arrival hi Kngland would he advanced. n On the other hand, to provide training further for all future,drafts in th« war zone by curtailing the period liora would mean calling up all the drafts earlier and that they would depart corr.'spniidingly sooner.' The effect of this wottld be that, according to the length r.f the curtailment, New Zealand would

be required to raise one, two or three extra drafts in addition to the present i.ndertaking. This would mean an e\< ha 2r>nn, soon or 7500, nccording to thu number of drafts. As New Zealand >s plready committed to raising 100 001 men if the war lasts the full three years, this extra obligation cannot bo under* taken lightly. /

It is pointed out that the New Zealand system should be judged by the result, and that a big percentage of th» irstnictors at Trentham arid Featherston are officers who have returned from the front.

Further instruction in the new" systom of bayonet fighting has been in progress af Trent ham since September last, and thejfirst draft receiving it arrived lit KngTand this month. The system sines linn been more fully developed, so that this complaint in future should be rt)i moved by the arrival of suecsed'njj iVtafts.