REORGANISATION OF N.Z. ARMY

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25085, 17 January 1947, Page 6

REORGANISATION OF N.Z. ARMY

Announcement By : Minister CONDITIONS OF SERVICE (P.A.) WELLINGTON. Jan. 15 A complete reorganisation of the New Zealand Military Forces, involving the abolition of distinctions between various corps and changes in conditions of service in the New Zealand Regular Army, was announced bv the Minister of Defence (Mr F. JoneS) to-day. Regulations covering the new organisation were contained in the Gazette to-night. The following corps of the New Zealand Military Forces are the New Zealand Staff Corps, the New Zealand Permanent Staff, the New Zealand Permanent Army Service Corps, the general duty section of the New Zealand Permanent Forces, New • Zealand Artillery, New Zealand Medical Corps, New Zealand Veterinary Corps, New Zealand Ordnance Cofps The following corps are amalgamated and redesignated:—Royal New Zealand Artillery and New Zealand* Artillery become Royal New Zealand Artillery; New Zealand Permanent Army Service Corps and New Zealand Anpy Service Corps become New Zealand Army Service Corps; New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps and Nty Zealand Ordnance Corps become MSS Zealand Army Ordance Corps; Zealand Army Medical Corps « New Zealand Medical Corps becofti New Zealand Army Medical Corps; A new corps, the New Zealand h, fantry Corps, is formed, and a new regiment, the New Zealand Regiment, is formed as part of that corps. The existing designation of the New Zealand Dental Corps is and this unit is redesignated the New Zealand Army. Dental Corps Thli brings the Dental Corps in conformity with the nomenclature of other corps. A generals’ list and the colonels’ list are constituted as part of the -Netf Zealand Forces. » The new regulations are the result of a careful examination by the Army Board of means to remedy anomalies and distinctions involved between permanent and territorial units, said; the Minister. The distinctions that existed in the past within regular units, and between regular units and territorial units, had not been in the best interests of toe service The Minister meritioned the New Zealand Staff Corps hnd the New Zealand Permanent Staff, in which officers were in one corps and other ranks in the other. Such a separation* of officers and men was not desirable. The Minister said that the title “New Zealand Staff Corps” had been misleading, in that it did not indicate the nature of the duties of all its memb<The institution of * generals' lift, and a colonels’ list Wings New Zmland procedure into line with that U$ the British Army and enables all generals, brigadiers and colonels—both. regular and territorial—to be posted’ together. . * Conditions of Promotion Changes in the conditions of promotion and of retirement were alsq announced by the Minister. The promotion of officers in the Netw Zealand. Permanent Forces, up to and including the rank of major, will be governed by the length of service, and above the rank of major, by a selection to complete establishments. Irrespective of the length of service, no officer will be considered eligible for promotion until he has passed the necessary qualifying examinations, and wiu require to be reported efficient and qualified. ± ’. ' Lieutenants will be promoted to captain after six years’ commissioned d service, and captains will be promoter j to major after seven years' service ' in the rank of captain. Selections for. promotion above the rank of major will be made with consideration professional qualifications, efficiency and character. Only when these are approximately equal will consider*# tion be given to length of service. - Officers for promotion will be required to be medically fit for service in the. field, but in cases where officers suffering from digaMlities < a result of active service are conceroea they may be promoted providing mey, are In other respects eligible. An innovation is the institution fix ; brevet rank for officers of the Per- r; manent Force as a reward in special cases for outstanding service. Brevet rank is an army rank, as distinct from corps or regimental rank, and does no; confer any advantage in pay. This introduction of brevet rank foilowl the British practice. . f A system of promotion by length of service was m operation in New Zealand before 1925. said the Minister. The present re-adoption was governed by shorter qualifying periods, and would enable an even flow of P ro " motion and ensure that officers bad an opportunity of reaching the rans of major at least at* a reasonably early "The Minister stated, as an example, that a cadet graduating from Duntroon as a lieutenant at the age of 22, would be promoted to captain at 28, and to • a major at 35. Promotion beyond the rank of major was impracticable to forecast.

Retiring Ages New conditions governing retire- | ment from the New Zealand Military | Forces are also announced for vary- i | ing grades of officers. On completion , g of the original period of enlistment, | warrant officers, non-commissioned of- J fleers and men may, if recommended J by their officer commanding, be per- | mitted to, re-enlist for permanent ser- . vice up to the age of 45 years. No [ private soldier will- be permitted to I re-enlist unless he has qualified for | promotion. All warrant officers, , n 0 commissioned officers and men Will be discharged on attaining the age of 45 years. Previously, said the Minister, retire- | ment was at the age of 55 years, irre- j spective of rank, with extensions in | certain circumstances. Those regula- . tions were based on provisions of the Superannuation Act in force at the . time, but under the Army Superannuation Order, 1944, a soldier compulsorily retired can now qualify fQ r superannuation after 21 years’ contributory service to the fund. “It is essential that all regular offi- > cers should be fit and qualified foj | active service in their peace-time ranK or one rank higher,” said Mr Jones. “It was amply confirmed in the recent war that 45 years is the maximum at which a lieutenant-colonel can co®" pete with the rigours of active f*' vice.” The immediate effect of the n BW conditions would be to make a number of officers and a few other ran» due for retirement, said the Ministw, but until replacements were available those men could not be released fro® the army. . “The adoption of a graduated scale of ages for retirement,” concluded the j Minister, “wilL remedy many defects. ■ give more opportunity to well-quali-fied men to obtain high rank, and produce a much younger corps of officer® than there has been in former years.