NEW DEFENCE POLICY.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 206, 28 August 1920, Page 15

NEW DEFENCE POLICY.

v SHORTENED TRAINING PERIOD. , CAMPS PREFERRED TO PARADES, t ■ i (By TcUgraph.—Parliamentary reporter.) WELLINGTON", Friday. i. Tho defence estimates had" not long f, ibecn under consideration in the House o. Representatives to-dny before the Mini- •'" stor (SirHeatonTßhodes' had given an ira- ? portant indication of future policy. The • "Minister prefaced consideration of the » intimates with an explanation that a (most of the expenditure on the schedule v wae already absorbed. Tie had not long ■» iboen in office, and there had bzen consequently some delay in preparing the a ■defence proposals. llis predecessor (the a (Hon. J. G. Coates) and also Sir James ° Allen had piver. the matter attention, j •and he hoped in future to show a re- a dtiction on the present estimates. I a "I want members to Tcalise," added the',, [Minister, "that the Government is fully s lawaro of a demand that the defence ' est/inatea sliould be cut down. I and ray colleagues arc prepared as rar as possible to do so. That will be our object during the coming year." t Mr. T. M. Wilford expressed satis- < 'faction nt the proposed reduction. The ' ( trouble was that when the defence estimates were considered next year the E (House would again be passing votes, the " bulk of which would 'have t j be spent. | ' The country was committed to a half ( •million for the defence department, and j , •£-dO,OOO yearly for the cruiser Chatham, j besides the cost of aviation. The vountry j * ihad not quite adapted itselt to the posi-1 ' tion of considering details of expenditure 1 " after it had thought in millions during' t the war. Ho believed there was a determined attempt by the department to do away with r'.fle clubs as part of the 1 "Defence Department. These clubs were t prepared to give free membership and 1 training in shooting to territorials. _ 6UGOESTIXG LIMITING EXPENDITURE. "T desire also to raise my protest lagainst enormous expenditure," remarked Mr. McCallum, who, however,! expressed satisfaction that in the defence: report there was a note ot economy. I tHe put it seriously to the Minister thatj 1£250,000 should 'be the limit. We l should encourage aviation on civilian! .ines and build up a dormant cit'zen urmy in some fashion. Mr. Witty pointed ont that the vote ihad increased 'by £'22,000. -vet the greater part of territorial training was waste, because young men were caught too late, tire believed in giving youths good phy- " tica-l training and discipline. THE FUTURE TOLICT. The Minister's Teply dealing with rifle clubs was given in a conversational tono, almost inaudible. He was understood to say that the rifle clubs will not fit in "with the territorial system, but the (Defence Department had made many concessions to them. to requests for an indication of future policy. ISLr R. H. Rhodes said he was following the lines suggested by the general officer commanding, though he asked that the estimates be cut down. "We do not Sntend to train beyond the age of 21 or 22," continued tho Minister. '"Our present system is for seven years, but we ■will cut it down to three years. We ! Will, of course, keep cadet training up to the age of 18, then give them a period in camp, after which-they will be drafted * to their units, giving them tho choice as far as possible in various branches of the service. "sYe propose to give them so miany days a year in camp, but there will Ibe no barracks system, and no training for months. It 'has been suggested that the period of general training in camp fwill be from a fortnight to six weeks, and that further training be remitted if a man proves efficient. Personally I think a fixed period in camp would ue ibetter than half day or whole day parades, which have made the system an irritation to employers. We propose to tlo away entirely with parades in the country, but it will be more convenient to territorials in town to attend half day parades, which will reduce the period of camp training. There can be no traindng camp this year, and we shall also have to suspend it tho year after, and (the year following that." Mr. Witty: Why is the expenditure so lb iff h. The Minister: Because it allowed for the present system. He went on to state that although camps would be suspended, dfc was proposed to train non-commission-ed officers and officers, who could not be made efficient in three or four months, as -was the case with the men. The Minister also explained the increased vote for small arms by the fact that before the ■war supplies obtainable at £28,000 now voist £100,000. It was possible to obtain QOOO rounds of ammun'tion in 1011 for £o 10/0, while on the declaration of iwar the price was fixed at £7 8/1, anl was now £9 19/2. There had been no] ancrease in the number of officers nor increases in salaries.