THE DEFENCE SYSTEM.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 250, 21 October 1919, Page 4

THE DEFENCE SYSTEM.

The statement about the defence system made 'by the Minister of Defence at C'hrislchurch yesterday makes one wish to know more of what is in his mind, la the proposed four months' training scheme quite dead? It has certainly found little favour in the country, and the indications are that if Parliament bad to vote on it to-day it would t>o rejected by a large majority. Sir .lames Allen says that the territorial system has been "inefficient, and to a considerable extent a waste of public money,"' and that "we could have got very much better results from the expenditure of the same money in another way." What that other way is may be easily surmised. 'But while Sir James says this and also that he is going to make a fuller statement on the subject, he does not indicate whether he its still determined to try to push his continuous training proposals. We can easily believe that there is room for improvement in the territorial system, but we are sure this country will not agree to the idea of four months' training. Sir James went on to say that he had "no time for" the unior cadet system, the abolition of which we believe to have been a mistake. We suspect that it is his professional advisers who have "'no time for" the junior cadets, and that the Minister loyally reflects their view?. Soldiering by small school boys is not 'military enough for professional eoldiere. There is no need, says Sir James, to instil into boys "anything savouring of the military spirit," but why should it be undesirable to do this with a primary school 'boy and desirable to do it in the case of a secondary school cadet? We believe that most "of the trouble the authorities now have with senior cadets would vanish if the junior cadet system was restored, and that the restoration would have good effects in other directions. The Minister suggests that the opinion of teachers i« against restoration. It would be interesting to know what teachers with experience of the old system think about it.