INTERNAL DEFENCE BILL.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13597, 4 December 1909, Page 6

INTERNAL DEFENCE BILL.

COMPULSORY TRAINING

A TERRITORIAL ARMY. ABOLITION OF VOLUNTEERS. (special to "the press.") WELLINGTON, December 3. The Internal Defence Bill, which was intrcduced as the House was about to rise this morning, consists of 103 clauses, divided into ten parts. The principal provisions are these relating to compulsory training. The opening clauses provide for the appointment of a Commandant of the Forces and a Council of Defence, to consist of the Minister for Defence as president, the chief of the general staff (who shall be responsible for the administration of matters relating to organisation, disposition, armament, and generally the maintenance of the defence forces), together with a finance member. The office of Inspector-General of the Forces will, under the Bill, be retained. With regard to tho scope of authority to be invested in the Commandant of the Forces, it is proposed that he shall be responsible for matters of discipline, training, and efficiency, administration of stores, accoutrements, munitions of war, supervision of fortifications and magazines, transport, and, in general, the control of matters relating to the strategical defences and mobilisation plans of tho country. A TERRITORIAL FORCE. The territorial force which is to be established shall be liable for servico within New Zealand, and is to be maintained, and, if necessary, recruited, by transfers from the general training section, i.e., those undergoing compulsory training. Such transfers shall be made either by ballot or by transfer. The new Bill abolishes the selection of officers by popular election, and provides that all commuisicned officers in the territorial force shall bo appointed by the Governor, on the recommendation of a Board of Selection appointed by the Council in each district. It is insisted that officers so appointed must pass prescribed examinations before obtaining their commission. PASSING OF THE VOLUNTEER. All volunteer corps, including reserve corps, shall, under certain transitory provisions of the new Bill, cease to exist on a. day to be notified by.proclamation, and on or before that day all arms, clothing, • and appointments issued to any member of such corps are to be delivered to an officer appointed for tho purpose. All tbe assets and liabilities of volunteer corps incurred prior to the date in question shall, after investigation, become the ass-ts and liabilities of the Crown. At any timo within the date so notified members of corps referred to shall be eligible for enlistment in the territorial force, with the same rank as previously held by them in the volunteer force. The machinery for the abolition of the volunteer force and the establishment of a territorial force, are, generally speaking, on the same lines as thjnse adopted in England for the establishment of the British Territorial Army. COMPULSORY TRAINING. The provisions in the Bill regarding compulsory training are on the lines of the- statements made in the Budget. EMPLOYERS AND TRAINING. ! Every person who prevents, or attempts to prevent, those of his employees who are liable for service in the senior cadets general training section, or territorial force, from carrying out such, service, or in any way penalises them for rendering such services, whether by a reduction of wages or dismissal, is liable to a fine not exceeding £10. All persons liable for service must, within three months after the coming into operation of tho Act, or in the month of January of the year in which they become liable, present themselves for registration, failing which they will be liable to a fine not exceeding £5, ond further, -will be disfranchised and rendered ineligible for service in any Government department. Nothing, in tho Act, it is stated, shall require any person to bear arms or perform or undergo military service or training if the doctrines of his religion forbid him to do so. On the other hand, he will be liable for service and training in such civil duties as may_ be prescribed by the Governor-in-Council. THE MILITIA. On an occasion of a. national emergency, tho Council of Defence will be authorised to make whatever directions _ it deems necessary for embodying all or any part of the defence forces, and in particular to make 6Uch special arrangements as may be proper in regard to units or individuals whose services may be required in other than a military capacity. Under these provisions all the male inhabitants of New Zealand between the ages of 17 and 55 are also liable for service in the militia, and in the event of war, the whole of those called out and placed under arms may be organised in such manner as may be directed by the Council of Defence. The militia shall be divided into the following classes: — Class I.—Unmarried men between 17 and 30 years of ago. Class II. —Married man between 1< and 30 years of age, and unmarried men between 30 and 40 years of age. Class lll.—Married men between 30 and oo years, and unmarried men between 4*o and 55 years of age. THE PERMANENT FORCE. Generally speaking, the permanent force remains as at present constituted, but authority is given to the Government to insist on a prescribed number of fit men to be embodied. The force will be liable for service in any conntry beyond New Zealand. AH persons embodied will be liable for eight years' service—fivo in the active force and three in the reserve —but it is provided that on payment of £10. and at any time during the two following years of £5, he may obtain his discharge at the end of three years, but he may be called upon at any time during the remainder of this period of eight years to re-join the force. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. There appears to be no definite reference in the Bill to such arrangement.; as will probably require to be made with regard to the payment of men whilst serving their compulsory period, beyond the single reference under the heading "general powers of the Governor," which states that regulations may be made for the pay, rations, and lodging of the forces. In the light of past experiences, with regard to the conditions which have j governed seniority of officers, the following clause is of some interest: —I "Where any commissions of like rank j bean the same date, the holders thereof j respectively shall rank according to the j dates of their prior commissions, and , in case there are not such prior corn- j missions, then the aforesaid holders j shall take rank according to the order of merit obtained in the examination."