GRAVE HANDICAP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 78, 3 April 1939, Page 7

GRAVE HANDICAP.

MILITARY FORCES. DEFINED POLICY NEEDED. ARMY CHIEF'S STATEMENT. (From Our Own Correspondent.) JOHANNESBURG, March 1. "The absence of a clearly defined State military policy has forced the South African General Staff to labour under a grave handicap during the last decade," the Chief* of General Staff, Major-General Sir Pierre van Ryneveld, states in his annual military reviewpresented to Parliament. This absence of policy, General van Ryneveld states, may be due to indifference, or lack of money for military requirements, to political prejudice or uncertainty caused by new inventions. General van Ryneveld finds some relie from his pessimism in the Active Citizen Force, the Cadets and the Special Ser vice and Pioneer Battalion?, btit he points out that in order to make clear planning possible, a more precise definition of the object of our defence organisation and training is required than is implied in the Act. "A ray of light is now being let in, and however faint it may be, it at least provides a part of that indispensable aim without which all our military preparations are nebulous. The policy now emerging is to think and plan In terms of bush fighting efficiency, and even to the layman it must be clear that with nothing more than this apparently vague definition of policy, it now becomes possible to decide on matters from puttees versus leggings to guns versus howitzers," General van Ryneveld proceeds. "Our existing fighting organisation must necessarily be reviewed in this lioht, and at this early stage it is possible to state definitely that the Active Citizen Force wUI a«ain be reorganised,

this time, it is fervently hoped, into formations which will be suitable for many years for the tasks envisaged. "I have already drawn special attention to tin* precarious position of our war equipment, and I must again stress the fact that, with financial restrictions, the fighting efficiency and military value of our defence forces .vttl continue to be on paper only.' :