THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1879.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3321, 14 August 1879, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1879.

The Gorernment spent, according to the least estimate, £15,000 per annum on a force of barely 6000 Volunteers. Add to this the contributions of the officers and men, and it will be found that the force costs, one way or another, more than £20,000 per annum. The question is, therefore, not so much whether the Volunteers are of any use, but whether the money spent on them could not be so laid out as to 'obtain* a .force of greater military value. There is another question which also demands attention, viz., whether the volunteers are trained and organized in the manner best calculated to fit them for active field service. The

- 5 —, enemies of the volunteer movement assert that their numbers give a delusive appearance of strength; that they are not a force which, considering their organization, could be relied ujxm in an emergency.; and that half the number of militiamen would be more really useful. The desirability of substituting, say 3000 militiamen for the 6000 volunteers need not be touched upon. 3000 militiamen wouid cost more, than 6QOO volunteers, if properly trained'; but militia service is is by no means popular in the Colonies. The question therefore resolves into this;: We cannot afford to substitute any other force for the volunteers. Shall we, under these.circumstances, discharge the patriotic services of 6000 intelligent, well-drilled men, whtifcare also for the most part (good shots. There cannot, we should imagine, be a doubt as to what the answer ought to be. Even allowing that the volunteers are inferior in experience and in point of efficiency to the Home Militia, still numbers and organisation count for something. Seeing also that the volunteer force contains in its ranks all classes of the community, who from, pure patriotism sacrifice time and money, the existence of such a body is a credit to the colony. The numbers shewn in the Parliamentary reports do not express the limit of bur civic military power, for during the last ten or twelve years hundreds more have passed through the force, and most of these would rejoin it on the first appear' ance or danger. The volunteer force is, in fact, highly useful to the authorities: it strengthens their hands in dealing with the natives, and it is desirable on that account alone'that the movement should be fostered and encouraged. With respect, however, to > its training and organization, we are bound to express an opinion that there is considerable room for improvement. Beyond company or* ganization there is really no definite organization, with but a few solitary exceptions. At tht present moment there are no arrangements for providing, in case of emergency, the volunteers with a a staff, transport, commissariat, or camp equipage; no arrangements, in short, exist for enabling the force to take the field at a moment's notice. As to the part,which it is to bear in case of native trouble, or of an enemy's landing, there is an equal absence of foresight. Until a thorough re-organization of the colonial system of defence is instituted, we shall not have turned the patriotism of pur volunteers to the most profitable account. We should not, in regard to defence, imitate the the ostrich, which buries its head in the sand and fancies itself secure. Eeports of the defective organization of the New Zealand defence system are not only prevalent locally, but are noticed by the authorities at Home. Many German writers also have called attention to the military nakedness of the colonies of the British Empire, and have quoted their strength to a man. Experienced military men, in and out of the New Zealand Parliament, are unanimous in advising and pointing out the necessity of a speedy reorganization of the volunteer force, yet if a member ventures to refer to the matter in the House, he is often snubbed and sat upon.