DEFENCE EXPENDITURE

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 46, 22 February 1918, Page 4

DEFENCE EXPENDITURE

The pvidence given yesterday before the Commission on Defence Expenditure by Colonel T. W. McDonald deserves special attention. Colonel McDonald is! a New Zealand officer with British trainin.', and his views may. we think, be accepted as representing the opinions of ii majority of New Zealand soldiers who have been engaged in active service. Critic? of military conservatism will be interested to see that this officer. who has bad the advantage of training with the Imperial Army, considers | the present system of military law and discipline costly and ineffective, and that the promotion of certain imported officers has been detrimental to officers trained in New Zealand, tome of whom are, in his opinion, quite as capable as the English officers of filling the positions. But the point, in Colonel McDonald's evidence to which we wish to draw particular attention is his opinion about training camps. Early in the war. and indeed nearly up to the last days of the voluntary system, there was a strong movement all over the Dominion in favour of local training camps, as against centralisation in the Wellington district. 'Ine "' Star " and other papers, and public bodies, repeatedly urged Sir .lames Allen to abandon concentration at Trentham, which, for one thing, proved to be an unhealthy place, and establish camps in the centres, but the Minister always said that it could not be done without impairing efficiency. Of course. Sir James, Allen took military advice on this question, but how far did he go for it? That he dirt not go very f;ir is suggested by Colonel McDonald's statement, in the course of his evidence nbout the camp that"'if the country had taken advantage of his and other experienced officers' advice, many thousands of pounds could have been saved." Colonel McDonald's opinion is that permanent camps should have been established in the four military districts, so that they could have been used as training camps after the war. He does not consider Trentham a suitable place for a. camp, an opinion lie will share with many who have been through the mill there- Those who -worked so hard and so for local camps will have some satisfaction in finding their opinion backed by this officer. We hope the Commission will inquire closely into the responsibility for the present policy.