THE DEFENCES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 523, 2 June 1909, Page 8

THE DEFENCES.

ME. FISHER'S REPLY. ' fl\> thb Enmou.) Sir,—Problem for Mr. Atkinson. —Our present force consists of 20,000 volunteers, of whom less,than 11,000 earn capitation. Of this 11,000 only 5935 attend a four-dßyß' camp at Eastor. Thore is no pay, and staff oharges are small, usnally one permanent Sergeant-Major to a camp. Yet our volunteer system costs us £214,000 a year. Very well. Mr. M'Nab" urges the necessity of thirty days' drill for 40,000 men who aro to bo paid by the State—4o,ooo men in camp for thirty days at camp oharges of 3s. 4d. per day equals £199,000.. 40,000 men for thirty days at 4s. per day, being the minimum rate under the Militia Act, equals £240,000. So that cost per man in camp will equal 7s. 4d. per day, or £439,000 per annum. Here, is tho Swiss estimate of, the oost of training per man in tho different branches of tho service:— "'■■'■' s. d. Infantry ... ■■„. ■„, 2 10} Field Artillery™ ■„,'. _. 5 4$ Cavalry ... „, ' ... 67i Engineers .„ „, .„ 38} Medical ._ „. ... 5 lj Supply _ _. ... 310 Note now a comparison of tho rates of pay in Switzerland and New Zealand:— 1 ■. Swiss. N.Z. _ ■. s. d s. d. Captain ... ... 8 0 15 0 Lieutenant ... ... 5 7 n 0 1 v 7 8 0" ■Sergeant ... ... 1 2J 6 0 Corporal ... ... 09j 5 0 Private ... ... 0, 7J 40, Recruit . ... ... 04J '4 0 And in Switzerland, be it remembered,' the cost of living is exceedingly cheap, as tho above tariff shows. , I have shown how the proposed 40,000 men in camp for thirty days will cost £439,000 before an item of the military'oost is touched. lJnmg year our military, staff 1 £J1>691 to administer 20,000 men, j m wore effloiont. Over lis J*™' Ai •^ w 7° ■ given assurance that ti.Mx. , .Atkinsons views are given effect to ttiat the same criminal muddle will not continue, on a grander and more lavish scalo in the future than in the pastP I am afraid or it. The, few figures supplied .will bo sufficient to enable the "compulsory'' advocates to state something definite. Come along, Mr. Atkinson, and give the public some solids :— (1) How many men are you goine to put into camp? B - . : ? HOW mUCh afe y ° U going *°' pa y $L^° k Soing to drill them? ' '' JfJ ,u * ar ?, the y going to be drilled with, ;.dummy" rifles or the real thing? I have-not answered the. fourteen paragraphs of your letter, not because thoy are unanswerable, but becauso I want .to get to a plain bedrock statement of fact. Mere rule-of-thumb calculations do not apply: Mr Atkinson says: Taking the population of the Commonwealth at three and a half millions, and New Zealand at one million, tho cost of such a scheme as is proposed there would, if adopted here, work out at about two-sevenths'of their estimated £1.200,000 in the first year, and £1,40/,000 in tho sixth. Thus, Now Zealand would have to find, about £3-12,000 in the first year, and £402,000 in tho sixth. Is not this equally logical? ,If a volunteer force of 20,000, of whom only GOOOWinto oamp for four days, costs £200,000 a year, YnHJ! 0 * a oon'PPlsorily-trained force or 40,000 men in camp for 30 days cost.at least four times as much, viz., £800,000.a year? That statement is as reasonable as Mr. Atkinson's. <

• The gymnasia I suggested will not'be so -.costly as Mr. 'Atkinson would havo us believe.' Every drill hall will require to be equipped.', Ammlinition must be made cheap under volunteering or compulsory service. Mr. Atkinson' forgets 1 that' half of otir defence expenditure is gross; extravagance; and can be made substantially good by a strong Minister for Defence. . I, admit frankly-that adequate defence means more expenditure, but. I cannot and do hot admit that the volunteer service has broken "down. It has been smashed up by a group of iricfficicnts at the head of affairs. Another point,on which I ontirely disagree with the experts is, that it is atallessential that wo in New Zealand should have a highly-trained army. If we woro hounded by great nations with standing armies, I, could appreciate tho 1 necessity, but as I said before our geographical situation should save us an enormous amount of money in the future.

In conclusion, let me say that I have boen at war with every Defence Minister for tho past five years, so I can not bo charged with neglect in this respect. What I am amused amused—is to'see Mr. M'Nab touring tho colony in the interests of defence, when ho, as a momber for twelve years, and defence Minister for,! two, has been, silent oh' the question during that long period, and has.only: just awakened to tie tact that his own administration and that of his predecessors has been "rotten" to the ' core, and can be tolerated no longer, Don't forget. Mr.' Atkinson, that we have the following little account to settle ©very vear for "ten years, vizi, naval subsidy £100,000, ■ "Dreadnought',' instalment £235,000; total, £335.000. Bo careful what you add, or you might inconvenience the Treasury.—l am, etc.,. ' ' F. M. B. FISHER. June 1,1909. ,