DEFENCE COMMISSION.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 May 1918, Page 2

DEFENCE COMMISSION.

GENERAL ROBIN'S EV'iDE-VCE. By Telegraph. —Press Association. Wellington, i\lay 10. Giving evidence 'before the Defence Expenditure Commission to-day, General Robin, tlie Commandant, said there wa.s no necessity for allowing a longer period between the date of the ballot and the actual calling into camp of men who have had considcraMo territorial training. The Samoan force, the Main ! Body, and the earlier reinforcements practically depleted tho territorial force of all eligible men of 20 years of age and over- It was due to this that the Samoan force, Main Body, and first reinforcements were aWe to proceed without preliminary trainingThe territorial scheme was introduced in 1911, when it required seven years to become fully established or automatic in its action. The present war thus fell upon the scheme three and a-half years before it was fully developed, but even so, right well had it proved itself of value. v considerable. proportion of the cxf . jure on the territorial scheme had be«s in provision of drill halls, offices, field guns, rifles, equipment, etc. When the war brolcg out these supplies were drawn and, as the result, the expeditionary force was alble Jto leave completed equipped. Territorial training was riot ignored when lads went into tho expeditionary camps. Analysis would' show that they were those Who principally gained officer ■ and N. 0.0 ranks. He never cantended, however, that tflie territorial training was sufficient to fit men for actual service in the field. The system was based on the time that could be spared from civilian life, not on what wag considered sufficient by military advisers. It was based, in fact, on tihe principle that it was better to have half a loaf' than none. Unless, therefore, thev equipped and trained these men to he disciplined en route to the front and enabled them to meet and hold their own with the enemy and to he in a state to at once go oiv with the special higher training in England, they would send them to possible death and defeat for want of training. To suggest reducing the period of training in the camp here merely in order to reduce expenditure at the expense of efficiency was a grave and serious responsibility for tho Government or its military advisers. Authentic reports from abroad supported the system adopted (by New Zealand, and although repeated inquiries had been made, he so far had no evidence or suggestion sufficiently sound to reduce the period of training in New Zealand. It would' he disastrous entirely to suspend the territorial force during the war or altogether to, cease training cadets and youths until they reached the age of liability' under the Military Serv%e Act. Twelve months ago he commenced to draft proposals for the future training of the Dominion forces after tllie war. These were still under construction for consideration by the Government as soon as possible lifter peace was declared. The terms of peace and the experience of the war must, however, be the governing factor in arriving at a decision. The actual details will be ■prepared in conference with returned higher staff and territorial officers in whom the public would have confidence. He was afraid that suggestions made to the Commission in this respect were the result ot coii-vers&tions between himself and various officers, and attended by O.C.C.'s, G.S.O.'s, and. by O.C.'s. Defending the appointment of Imperial officers in New Zealand, he pointed out that the forces of the Empire, must of necessity foe alike in training and equipment if, as the war proved, they were to co-operate in the field- Standardisation was even more necessary in the military machine than iu the big businessi concerns of the world. He was nnablo to release those Imperial officers ftt present employed in New Zealand, because so far equivalent experienced officers had not yet returned to enalble this to be done;