ARMY PROBLEMS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 118, 21 May 1941, Page 6

ARMY PROBLEMS

Sir John Duigan, whose impending retirement from the post of Chief of the General Staff is announced, was promoted to 'it in March, 1937. When the war broke out the people of the Dominion, who had starved the Defence Department for many years, looked to it to perform the miracle of quickly organising and training a force for overseas and simultaneously building un another force for home defence. Such a miracle could not be performed, but the Department's achievement, considering all the circumstances, was a creditable one, and Major-General Duigan is entitled to his share of the credit. But the course of the war has intensified and multiplied the Army's problems, and it is welcome news that a new mind is to advise the Government upon them. It is not clear from the terms of the j announcement whether Lieutenant-j General Sir Guy Williams is to be more than an adviser—whether he is to succeed Major-General Duigan— but his counsel, at least, will be j available to the Government at an opportune time. That counsel, it is hoped, will be sought particularly on the subject of home defence. New Zealand has considerable forces overseas, and they must be supported and reinforced as necessary, but there is a comparable necessity to give increased and steady attention to the state of the Territorial Army. This involves, necessarily, the wider questions of man-power, .including the legitimate needs of industry. A military expert can advise on the organisation and training of military forces; but it is for the Government to find the men, the arms and the supplies, and to determine the degree in which the needs of the Army shali be given priority.