51

A.—7

quite inadequate supply of military saddles is available. The harness, equipment, and guns for field artillery are quite unequal to modern demands. A very small and quite inadequate quantity of field-engineer or field-hospital equipment is available. Camp equipment and blankets are also inadequate. The supply of ammunition is in a very seriously defective condition. It will be obvious, therefore, that a very considerable outlay in equipment is imperative. Troops without efficient and sufficient arms, ammunition, and equipment are useless for the purpose for which they exist, and are therefore a mischievous delusion. The condition of the forces of the six States is very diverse. In some instances arms and equipment are either obsolete or worn out, while in others deficiencies are comparatively small. IV.—Permanent Force. Permanent Force for instructional and specialist services. Any increase of the Eoyal Australian Artillery and of the engineers is not at present necessary. The whole force of permanent troops should be maintained for purposes of instructing the militia or partially paid troops and Volunteers, as well as for supplying the skilled personnel required in connection with the guns, forts, and submarine-mine defences. I have recommended a reconstruction of the former into three four-gun field batteries and into eleven companies of garrison artillery. The field artillery will supply the personnel for the Schools of Instruction of Field Artillery and of Light Horse, and the garrison artillery for the Schools of Instruction of the Garrison Artillery and Infantry. The engineers will supply the personnel for the Schools of Instruction of the Field Engineers, Field Telegraph, and the Submarine Miners. Selection of officers. The officers of the permanent troops should be selected with the utmost care. They must be well educated and capable men, as they will be required in the future to supply Australia with her general staff and instructional staff officers. Every opportunity should be taken of giving the officers of the general staff and of the permanent corps opportunities of study in England and elsewhere and of gaining experience whenever active operations are being undertaken. The greatest pains should similarly be taken, by means of adequate pay and generous treatment, to induce steady, capable, and well-educated men (preferably those who have served with credit in South Africa or China) to enter the ranks of the Permanent Force. The future efficiency of the Commonwealth military forces must in a very large measure be in direct ratio to the quality and the efficiency of its general staff officers and of the officers and the non-commissioned officers of the permanent forces and staff. The administration and the instruction of a citizen army in time of peace must mainly devolve upon the permanent officers and non-commissioned officers, and in time of war a large and responsible share of duty will necessarily fall to their lot. No effort should be spared therefore to make military service in the Permanent Force attractive. It should be made clear that a certain and hopeful future is before all ranks of the permanent officers and men of the military forces of the Commonwealth. A prospect should be held out, by opportunities of advancement and of a fair pecuniary remuneration upon disability for age or failure of health, which should not only satisfy the very proper ambitions of those now serving, but should attract into the service the best educated and most intelligent candidates for vacancies. V.—Eifle Clubs. Rifle clubs : their value. The love of rifle shooting and the existing interest in rifle practice has been materially fostered by the institution of rifle clubs throughout Australia. The organization of rifle clubs might be developed hereafter with great and increasing advantage, as soon as the future military organization has been determined and carried out, and when the exact position which rifle clubs are to hold as an integral part of the defences has been clearly defined. There is, however, a tendency to look on rifle shooting and rifle practice as a pastime rather than as an obligation seriously undertaken as an important element towards the national defence. The encouragement given to rifle clubs, and the financial advantages conferred by Government, should only be continued on the understanding that rifle shooting as practised in Australia is seriously undertaken and is developed upon the latest modern lines, and, further, that the members of the rifle clubs are prepared to undertake in some definite form a direct share in the defence of the country. The rifle clubs at present constituted in some of the States are organized on sound lines, and their members form a reserve to existing military units. In at least one instance, however, rifle clubs form an organization apart, which, without officers, without military instruction, and without a system of military organization, can at best provide only a certain number of partially armed men with an uncertain knowledge of the use of the rifle. The military value of such men as an integral part of the defence forces of Australia can be but small under the existing conditions, and this system requires modification. One general system of organization for the rifle clubs and rifle associations throughout the Commonwealth is necessary. The system of providing a reserve from members of rifle clubs by affiliation to the various military units, which has proved to successfully answer the purpose in some of the States, should be taken as a basis on which to create such an organization. The Eeserve men thus provided will be available to complete the peace establishments alluded to above to the requisite strength of war.