THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, JUNE 22,1901.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 166, 22 June 1901, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, JUNE 22,1901.

We do not know exactly how it is, but the Defence Department, somehow or other, seems to be one of the most unsatisfactory branches of the public service. If we hear of a muddle or anything goiug wrong in any of the departments and we are asked to guess which it is, in nine cases out of ten we, shall -be right if we 'answer* "The Defence Department." The Premier is the Minister, of Defence and we are not inclined to think that it is his fault. He is usually active, industrious, energetic and clear-sighted enough. Bat there is something wrong with the machinery somewhere. There is discontent all round with the i

Department, and it seems to i require reorganisation, and that as soon as practicable. Probably more money is required for it. If so, more money must be provided. Certainly there are complaints that the Department is ~ starved for funds, and, looking at the very inefficient manner in which some corps are equipped, there would appear to be some truth in some of these complaints. For instance, it has he» n publicly stated of a well-known j battery, some eighty strong, in I I one of the cities as follows : Their small arms consist of twelve carbines for class firing. They have no side arms. (2) Thev have no belts to hang side

arms on. (8) It is hard to characterise the guns. The word " obsolete " is common and hackneyed. The guus cased in leather, to be seen in museums, with which the gallants of England in Elizabeth's day fought the Spanish Armada, seem almoßt better weapons. (4) Tnis particular battery has had no practice with shot or shell for about three years and a half. (5) There is no saddlery in the possession of the battery and there are no qualified drivers. There is not a horse nor saddle, nor bridle, nor a military bit for a Coi:S >- queutly the Defence Department would appear to be perpetrating what seems almost a fraud upon the colony. Tiioy are paying ! away capitation money and ■ putting forward a body of men i as efficient and equipped volunteers, while in fact they are starving the men and fie companies of nearly everything necessary to make them efficient * fighters. Last session this mattei [ of defence was not properlj , threshed out. There was (1) » 5 1 Defence Statement put forwarc '• by Mr Seddon containing pro *posals for putting the defence d and the defence force on a bette ° basis; (2) a report of the com raittee appointed to conside defence; (3) a Defence Ac l e Amendment Act ; (4) Colon* u Pole-Penton's annual report c 'a the Defence Department. Bu d none of these documents wer as seriously debated, because th w crush of work was such tht there was not time. Next sessjor J we fancy, there will be a goo

Ei session after. Mr Bed that there shoull i of defence forces — t artillery, oidii- forces, (3) Imperial •ve, (4) rifle clubs. (5) cadet corps. But there is a grave omission .here. What abou the militia ? As most people know, the militia consists of all able-bodied citizpus within certain ages, who are bound to turn out and fight .for their conn ry i required, and there are provisions for a certain amount of training in drill and shooting of those enrolled. So far, however, the militia provisions have been practically a dead letter. Now, if there is a lesson at all to be drawn from the South African war, it is the value of a man who knows how to handle a gun and shoot Btraight, even though he be dev< i '• of much training as to drill and ''military evolutions generally. The Boers were practically the nation in arms from boys of sixteen to old men of seventyfive, and we all know that though, comparatively speaking, they were , e*ffut a little band, they succeeded in holding the whole mighty British Empire at bay for many months. Now, the ideal seems to be that every man in the country, should know at least the necessary elements for a fighting man—that is, he should know how to handle his rifle and shoot. He' should also know something of the value of trenches and how to 'make them. All this, as far as New Zealand is concerned,.could be done by making more use of the militia provisions of the Defence Act and calling out our citizens generally to learn a little abont these matters; and, more, over, this could be done very cheaply. The cost would be very trifling in comparison with the good that would be done. Another defect is that the regulations in respect to rifle clubs are quite beneath contempt No selfrespecting club would apply to come under them. The bait offered is ludicrously insufficient. A paltry few rounds of ammunition in the year and rifles at cost price are all the rewards that rifle clubbers are to haae for submitting to drills and in various other tyays qualifying themselves for soldiering purposes. These regulations will bav* to be entirely remodelled or no clubs will join." Regulations are now in force for

;he establishment of cadet corps r between the ages when a lad leaves school and when he is able to join an adult corps. This is a eery decided step in the right iireQtipn, and is already beiug acted, upon pretty extensively,, several companies having es~ ' tablished in connection with ■' themselves corps of cadets, which .] will make valuable feeders for 1 the companies to which they are attached. If the proposals of the Deft nee Committee be ad< pted in their entirety it means getting a number of first-class weapons and spending a very great deal of ( money. The total cost of theH works and war material proposed M ,< to be undertaken and bought by IB the Defence Committee is no lessM j than £373,4g8, and the total» ANNUAL cost of the ne«r proposalsH i T.onld be just on £60,000, That! ; is to say, in addition to ttea . ORDINARY annual expenditure* 1 on the Defence Department,™ which is about £IOO,OOO orl 'j £IIO,OOO, we should have toll j spend this £60,000 a year inoi e.H| This 18 certainly a good ronndnJ sum, and we shall probably not IS | incur so great a liability withoutß 1 considerably more discnssionHJ thon took place last session. Weg|| trust that this whole question ofS| j the position of our volunteergH| and our defences will J thoroughly debated next tessionJßl or, at any rate, the session atte dß| and that the whole matter |m:i»| be placed on a more footing. There are very maujHi matters of det i that we have t<Hßj deal with, such as not deferrinm| payment of capitation for a yearMi ' want of proper drill accoinmodaHi ; tion, instruction of officeraffll ' lengthening of term of servictMl reduction in the price of anmiwH| ' nition or increase in allowance qHI ' free ammunition, the utterlm! ■ defective equipment of varioiiM| 3 special corps, such as artillerflß r engineers, bearers, etc., tbfiH - apportionment of the variodH r corps to various districts, aofli * many other matters of more jj| less importance; but we sbaH f have to defer the consideration |W these questions to another OCC gK| 6 s i° n » Hi