H.-19

11

24. Aviation. The monoplane " Britannia, , ' a gift to the Dominion, has been flown at Auckland. An officer of the New Zealand Staff Corps has undergone an aviation course at the Royal Flying School, and will shortly return to New Zealand. The improvements to aircraft are so rapid and incessant that an aeroplane is scarcely built before it is obsolete as a first-class instrument for war. Aeroplanes are expensive items. The Inspector-General recommends a waiting policy. 25. Military Journal. Four numbers of the New Zealand Military Journal were published last year, and copies were distributed to members of both Houses and officers of the N.Z.S.C., Territorial Force, and Cadets. Non-commissioned officers of the Permanent Staff have since been included in the distribution of the Journal. The matter in the Journal contains much of interest and instruction, but we would still welcome more original contributions from members of the .Military Forces of the Dominion. 26. Militart Tournament. This annual tournament was inaugurated by Volunteer officers at Palnierston North in 1905 for the purpose of encouraging skill at arms, discipline, and general efficiency, and to foster esprit tie corps and interest Volunteers and Cadets in their military training bj' setting a standard for drill, &c. The tournaments wire held at Paltuerston North until 1911, the attendance of competitors and the public increasing each year. The committee of the 1911-12 tourney was nominated by the General Officer Commanding, who also levised the programme. In 1912-13 the tourney was held at Christchurch, under a committee appointed by the Officei Commanding the District, and was self-supporting. Last year the tourney was held in Auckland, and attracted very large entries. The tournaments, by gathering together highly trained teams for competition, have done a great deal to improve the efficiency of the New Zealand Army. They are made self-supporting as far as possible, and 1 recommend their continuance. It is proposed to hold that for 1914-15 at Dunedin. 27. Next Year's Training. The co-operation in field manoeuvres of the three arms at tins year's camps have enabled all ranks to judge of what will be required of them if the Forces were mobilized for war. Commanding Officers especially are now in a position to judge in what particular respects their commands are deficient in training, and to what points they should particularly devote attention in order to ensure that their units are fit and efficient to take their place in the higher organizations in which they would have to fight in time of war. Owing to the necessity for establishing, firstly, the regimental organization, which was done in 1912; secondly, the brigade organization, which was done in 1913: and, thirdly, the nearest approach to a divisional organization which we could manage, which was done in 1914, Commanding Officers have not yet had an opportunity of thoroughly grounding their units in elementary principles. I propose, therefore, for next year to hold camps to some extent by regiments and battalions, more especially in the case of those that are most backward. At the same time, seeing that we have now reached the stage of progressive training to which manoeuvres should be the natural sequence, having had regimental camps in 1912, brigade camps in 1913, and divisional camps in 1914, it will be advisable to practise manoeuvres next year. But, bearing in mind the short time in which the new Citizen Army has been in existence, I do not propose to attempt these on a very ambitious scale, nor for all the troops in each district, but rather on a small scale, which will give Commanding Officers of the units concerned more opportunities for individual instruction, and will enable the Army and District Staffs to be concentrated for the purpose. Short of army manoeuvres on a large scale, the two directions in which instruction for war can now be most usefully undertaken appear to me to be with regard to the Mounted Rifles and the coast-defenoe commands. As regards the 'Mounted Rifles, I have been much struck during the past three training seasons with the absence of " doctrine," and of a realization of the uses to which they would be put on service, that prevails as a rule among the leaders of all ranks. That the material and the capacity to make the best of mounted troops is there was evidenced by the excellent showing made by the Mounted Rifles dining the visit of the Inspector-General. My idea now is to place my own services for what they are worth at the disposal of such of the Mounted Rifles as can be most conveniently concentrated in one camp, and to give them the benefit of my experience of the twehe years during which I served practically continuously with mounted troops both in peace and war. With this object I propose to assemble the three regiments of the Otago Mounted Rifles Brigade and the two nearest regiments of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles Brigade, with the guns of the Canterbury and Otago Field Artillery Brigades, at a central camp in the South Island. There I hope also to have the Brigadiers and Commanding Officers of the North Island Mounted Rifles, and to inculcate the principles of the employment of mounted trops in comparatively large bodies. Arrangements will be made for the two Infantry regiments (of South Canterbury and North Otago) whose headquarters are nearest to this place of concentration to be training in their independent unit camps at the same time, so that they maj - serve as an enemy against whom operations by the Mounted Rifles may be directed. As regards the coast defences, I think it is very necessary and desirable that the efficiency of our defence schemes for the two principal defended ports should be practically tested. I propose, therefore, with this end in view, that the coast defence troops of Auckland and Wellington