DEFENCE AFFAIRS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 185, 25 April 1918, Page 9

DEFENCE AFFAIRS

—__$ SITTING OF THE COMMISSION RETURNED SOLDIERS' BRANCH MORE ABOUT TRANSPORTS The Defence Expenditure Commission continued the hearing of evidence yesterday. . Brigadier-General Sir- Robert Anderson presided, and Mr. Charles Rhodes nat with him.

J". It. Samson, head of the •Discharged, fcoldiers' Information De•partment, was the first witness •called. He .said, that there were 19 paid officers of the Department, and ■over it)o voluntary officers. The cost of the Department per annum was JciiiiS, including initial expenditure on office equipment and furnishings, but not including amounts paid to soldiers for special tuition allowances, railway fares, :and medical examinations. Air. Samson •discussed at some.length the suggestion ■that the work of the Department might ibe handed over to the Returned Kol■iliers' Association, which should receive for. tho work a subsidy of, say, .£3OO. lie did not say that it wouid be impossible for tho Returned Soldiers' Association to da the work, but he did not think the Government would allow a private organisation not under the control of a responsible Minister to direct (he expenditure of public moneys to the amount cf thousands of pounds per annum. Nor ■did he think that public opinion would consent to the Government handing over all the Department's work to the association, if this were to moan lhat the ■Government would wash its hands of responsibility for the future welfare of returned men. He added ..that no complaints had been received from the Re•tnrned Soldiers' Association or any other ■organisation. On the contrary, satisfaction with the work of the Department jhad at different times been expressed by the association officials, as well as by the Press, members .' of Parliament, civilians and soldiers, and at no time had there been any suggestion that the. expenses of the Department wore not warranted. Pensions. G. C. Facie, Commissioner of Pensions find Secretary of the War Pensions Board, paid that tho practice of his Department was to pay ,war pensions in tweive equal fenonthly payments per annum. He knew that the Defence Department paid the allottees their money in dilfering.iimoiinte rper 'month,' according to the number ot days in the month. He would not like to change' his present system, involving as it would more expense and mora office work, nor did he think that any other (System would be more effective than-that jiow used by his Department. To pay [pensions fortnightly would involve a great increase in -work; not only to .his department, but to the Post Office, which acted as paying agent for the Pension's Department. The Post Office charged for this service .-£3750 per year, based on a j

charge per payment of threepence. He considered that the cost of tho administration of the Now Zealand Pensions Acts was very low. He discussed with Mr. Ehodes possible alteratipns in .the method of checking or authorising pensions payments, maintaining that the system used by his office was the best that •he had been able to discover after very careful consideration. His fystem made it almost necessary that pensions should bo paid in equal monthly instalments. Training-Here or Abroad? Major J. L. Saunders, lately returned from' Sling Camp, was asked to give his -opinion as to wiether the long period of training in New Zealand was necessary or useful. He said that m.liiigland the Army Council'laid down fourteen weeks as the period of training for a soldier, and tho New Zealand soldier would probabiy bo able to do the work in twelve weeks. The men from New Zealand arrived at Sling not fully trained, and there was varying efficiency in every draft. At Sling the men in a draft must all start from the same point, ana soiuo men went to France not so eifacient as they ought to be. At Etaples or some, other depot they would get morei tramin" The general standard of drafts was Weil, but in every draft there wero iWcn who said they had never handled a rttte, &nd who certainly showed no proficiency. Ho believed the men lost efficiency on the long voyage. Ho would be prepared to recommend that the men should havo Jess than sixteen weeks' training hero and more in England. The men. m the reinforcements did not arrive in MgJand trained soldiers. At Sling the custom of changing instructors every six months BtiU obtained. Men were brought irom. Franco with the latest ideas, and wero trained in the English schools before bein" taken on the instructional staff. For the sake of efficiency these constiwi. changes were necessary. At present New Zealand drafts ivere kept at Sling a jnonth, after sixteen weeks here, making twenty . weeks' training. He would rather have the bulk of the training in England. Ho thought we would get just as good results with four weeks' training here and ten weeks' training in England. By this method six week's train, jng could be saved, equal to about M) a nmn-3i0,000 en a draft of 1000 men per month-making .£180,00(1 a year. .Tins was allowing for tho value of 'a man in

civil occupation in liie community during the period saved. "Disappointing!" Archibald Walker, Lloyd's Surveyor, tendered further evidence about the titling out of -transports. He Paid that a moiuber of the Transport Buai-d was always present when 11 ship was being fitted out, exercising a "general supervision" of 'tho work. Ho said I hat his previous statements as to the methods in which ships wero fitted had not been quite correct. Ho had not had much to do with the work of late.

The chairman: According to your evidence vou havo drawn JJ2OOU in fees in three years—rather handsome fees I am bound to say-ami .it is a little- disappointing to us lo find, that you know so little about it. •."'-. Witness: I worked for eighteen months continuously on (his transport work, ana I was only enabled to do so by employing an assistant at .£3OO a year to do my own work, so that f don't think I was receiving any more than I was earning in connection with the fitting out of ttege ships. I have had very little to do with the work of the board during the. last year or so. I do >ot suppose I have attended more than half a dozen meetings. Captain Kirkwood, secretary of the Transport Board, was asked to enlighten the commission on the points about which Air. Walker, was not sure, lie said that on two of the earlier ships fitted out by the companies no check had been kept on tlw- work done or tho material used, except that the ships had to be fitted to the satisfaction cf the board. The chairman: Ts that really so? Of course these companies' have excellent names, aud there is nothing in our mmds of distrust of them. But the Government—this Government which is' bo punctilious about small things—it is rather remarkable that there should be no check' pn these larger items .of expenditure. " , Cnptain Kirkwood said that m tlie later ships, all the time and all tho material had been checked on tho work by a member, of. the Transport Board representing the Government. The commission sits again at 9.30 tomorrow.