THE COLONY'S DEFENCES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXII, Issue 93, 17 October 1906, Page 7

THE COLONY'S DEFENCES.

THE PREMIER'S PROPOSALS. "AN IMPORTANT SCHEME. COUNCnj OF DEFENCE. By Governor's Message, the new D*» fence Act Amendment Bill 1 ' waa introduced into the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon, and was read & first time. The Premier, asked by Mr, Jas. Allen to explain tha measure, said he intended doing so when moving its second reading It was an important Bill; it would probably take him aa hour to explain its provisions, and th» defence scheme, and. he intended asking the House to pass the Bill this scetfon. Clause 2 of the Bill gives power to the Governor to appoint a Council of Defence in connection with the defence forces, consisting of such persons M tho Governor think* fit, and these shall be appointed for a. term not longor than five years, with power of reappointment. * The Minister of Defenco i» to be responsible to the Governor and to Parliament for all the business of' to* council. The first military member of the council (the chief of the general 6ta£) and ther second military member (tho Adjutant-General and the Quarter-master-General) are to be responsible to the Minister for the adminwto&tfon of so much of the business relating" to the organisation, disposition, personnel, armament, and maintenance of the defence forces aa shali be assigned t»" them j tla finance member of tha council v to have its responsibilities j and the secretary ol iht» council will be charged with the preparation of all official communications. -An Inspector-General of Defence Forces is to be appointed for a period pot exceeding five years at one time, and he will be under 1 the orders and direction of the council, and his duties will be to review generally and report to the council on tha practical results, of its policy. For that purpose he will inspect and report annually upon, the training and efficiency of all members of the defence forces, on the anifcability of their armament . and equipment, on the conditions of the fortifications and defences of the colony, and generally on the readiness and fitness of the defence forces for war. The salaries of the officers of the council and of the Inspector-General are to be paid ont of the Consolidated Fund. some interviews. legislatorFapprove of REFORM. MR. FISHER'S OPINION**. Three members of the House of R*i presentatives were interviewed by a member of the Post staff regarding the new Bill. Speaking as one who had devoted considerable time and attention to matters concerning defence, the member for Wellington Central (Mr. Fisher) said he welcomed with great satisfaction the* advent of such a council as was. outlined in the Bill. There could be no doubt whatever that, notwithstanding the merits and the capacity of the con> mandants the colony had had during the* past twenty years, great friction • and mismanagement had been the order of the day. The result was that the defences of the colony at the present timsi were lamentably deficient. Under « council such as was proposed by ih«f Bill it was exceedingly probable tha* the disabilities which baa existed id the past as between the deportment* the Commandant, and the Under-Seen}* tary would now be obviated, although^ of course, the whole success of the; present change must necessarily hingA almost entirely upon, the personnel of the council. Mr. Fisher assumed thafc the council would consist in the main* of officers who were at present in command of volunteer districts. Thero> could be no doubt that we had efficient! officers in the colony for places in tha council. Our experience in the past* baa shown us that English officers either could not or would not get into close touch with the service in th<» colony^ which service was comprised almost entirely of irregulars. Under a Defence council we might look for drastic reformß regarding the efficiency o£ our ordinance corps, a- feature of which in tho past had been sacrificed too much to the necessities of a. mediocre infantry. Mr. Fisher concluded by saying that he could not discuss the Bill at any length until the proposals which ifc concerned had been placed before tha House. But, taking into consideration, the fact that 'this colony had stink millions of money in defence provisions; and woe likely to sink many more millions in the near future, it was no wonder that members of the House welcomed the advent of a change from th* system of the past. MR, ALLEN WELCOMES REFORM^ Mr. James Allen, M.H.R. for Bruce, who is one of the most experienced volunteer officers in the colony, and an enthusiast in artillery work, was also> approached. Mr. Allen holds the ranis of Lieutenant-Colonel in command of the Otago District Garrison Artillery Volunteers. He said, in reply to a question, that he had not much to say about tho Bill vet, because particulars were not available. He had only tha brief reference made to tho measure by the Premier during the afternoon, but from that he could' say, speaking gene* rally, that any change in our defence policy must be a change for the better. The strong redeeming feature in tht Bill that met with his commendation was the fact that it would get rid of tho long-standing conflict between th« Military Department and the Undersecretary for Defence. There had been a condition oi things existing betweejj these two branches that had been very dp6atLsfactory, which had been subservient not only of disciplipe, but of food end economical management. The few raatipn of a Council of Defence would clear such a state of things out of existence, and the constitution of the" council would provide not only for ths military side, t>ut the financial branch of management. The value of tho coun* cii would depend upon the officers whff were selected for its composition. One, of theEo officers ought to be on Imperial man, but the Quarterrnaster-General'a department might very well bft taken, by a New Zealand officer, and the finon* cml member might also be a local man. For the position of Injpector-GeneraU the colony might find o, man well enoucrb qualified ; bub to get two such officers as he had named would deplete volunteer districts, and that would create a decided difficulty. If any Officers Commanding Districts were taken for post* tions on the council, it would be fotmaf lo be difficult to get really efueScnf men to fill their places. However, they might face even this trouble to get rid of the existing unsatisfactory state »i; things. Mr. Allen said that, the colony could not yet very well afford '*• di* without the advice of an Imperial <& fleer, although the day would no» doubV come when we could do so. AN IMPERIAL OFFICER WANTED. The member for Ell«mere OAr. & H. Rhodes), who » Captain of the Own terbrjry Yeomanry Cavalry, and who saw service witfc the New Zealand troop* in South Airic&t was olio i&teixtavgli

Mr. Rhodes solid -that 'there was -no doubt that the -colony.- needed somo change in its defence policy. Referring to the proposals in the Bill, Mr. Rhodes said that if the colony was going to appoint another Commandant, •we should carry out that officer's suggestions. He believed in the importation of an Imperial officer, who 'should hold conferences with officers in charge of districts. • As to the proposed Council of Defence, the Minister of Defence should certainly be an ex-officio member of the council. Mr. Rhodes could not give an offhand criticism of the Bill and the proposed council. One might contain very good machinery, but the other depended for its success so much upon the officers who were to be appointed. He considered that some very capable officers for the council could be found in the colony ;' but if , officers at present in command of 'districts were taken to form the council, then volunteer districts would suffer considerably by the loss of such men. It would be very difficult to fill their places. If, on the other hand, members of the council were only to be called together occasionally in Wellington, there was stiU the Habrity that they would be called at a time when most wanted in the^r own districts. Mr. Rhodes was inclined to think that the council would absorb two of the colony's most capable officers commanding districts, one of •whom might become Inspector-General and the other Adjutant-General. Still, be thought that it would be very difficult for a. colonial officer to fill the position of Inspector-General, which would require a training' an an experience that none of our officers had gone through. He had always inclined towards the engagement of an officer from Home, and so many Imperial officers had seen members of colonial forces at work in South Africa that nowadays they not only had a better appreciation of them, but they had a better understanding of their merits than they had previous to the Boer war. ■ THE DEPARTMENT ARRAIGNED. Air. E. D. Bell, who is well known for his efforts to secure improvements in the defence administration, Enid that the new proposals w«re practically an endeavour to say that the department was not in any way responsible for the present state of things. It did not follow that there would be an improvement-un-der the new regime. The whole thing lay in the public realising what its duty was. When the public did that, and ..recognised that it was saving money* by taking an interest in its volunteer force, it would bring pressure to bear on a 'tht> department to effect necessary reforms in the administration. A corps of a hundred volunteers cost about £600 a year, "while a similar number of regulars required about -fiIOJJOO. "By the very fact-of (setting up ~a he continued, "the department now admitd ■what most of us contended for yeaic — that the whole thing is rotten. Instead of facing the music and'frankly and fully stating that the department was at fault, the. Government Is. to start another improvement. They are going to try' a new experiment, but the fact of the matter is that the Commandant experiment was never properly tried. The members -tti-ttML Government never put their back to it. They have broken the hearts of everybody who had any real unselfish interest in working for effective defence. They smother the o Boers. In England, I believe, officers have a right to express opinions in the press, but here it is a fundamental regulation that they must strictly oneerve silence." "A SPARTAN BAND." A retired officer, who can point to a long and honourable career of active service, remarked that as far as he could at present judge the council scheme seemed to be making in a very good direction. The colony had tried three Commandants, and the result had not been satisfactory'; ■whether the fault lay with some one ■who had controlled them or not he did •not care to say. He thought that under the new order the volunteers would receive better treatment. "Any change, it appears to me," he explained, "would improve the position of volunteers. Often people who deserve most attention get the least, and the volunteers come into this, class. They are not properly equipped; no one knows that better than themselves. They are worthy of all praise, but they do not get sufficient proper encouragement. They are as good material as can be got anywhere in th© world —well-behaved, respectable, decent citizen soldiers. They are a Spartan band ,of self-abnegating, earnest, truehearted soldiers. They have endurfcd bully-ragging and bucketing about for £2 10s a year, of which, of courss, the poor fellows do not handle a penny, for the money is devoted to uniforms, cartridges, and 50.0n." OTHER, OPINIONS. _ Major Moorhouse said that he would ■like some time to study the proposals. "At first sight, they look much better than the present system," he remarked, answering a question. Captain Courtney aleo t etated that he would like an opportunity to closely examine the new scheme, before discussing it in detail. "On first blush," he added, " it teems to be an adaptation of the new Ecgliah system, whicft is supposed to be working well. I would like to compare it vitb the Australian scheme, which, I understand, was recently discarded."

Messrs. Macdonald, Wilson and Co. reinsert the advertisement 01 tho sale of tho Standen Ejtate, which takes place next Tuesday evening, at 7.50 o'clock, at their Exchange Land Mart. They specially invito buyers of suburban lands who navo not already done so to inspect the various lots prior to sale. There are 202 sections, which range in area from an eighth of- an aero and over, having frontages to tho MainKarori-road, Standen, Johneton, and Cross streets. The block adjoins tho residencs and grounds of the Hon. C. J. Johnston, H.L.C. Lithographic, piano can be had from the auctioneers or at ,Mrs. Webb's refreshment roome, closo to the property. The firm a-lso insert the advertisement of the sale by auction on Tuesday next of nine, building sections at Island Bay, which they will submit on bohalf of Mr 3. W. Staples. These lots havo frontages ransir.fr from. 33ft to 66ft to tho Parade, Clyde, and Avon stroe'te. ' Tho Srm state that the terms of sale are easy. Lithographic plans" can bo had on application to tho auctioneers. Messrs. J. H. Bcthuno and Co. insert •a extended notice of tho sale of Highbury, which takes place in their auction roomi on Wednesday, 24th instant/ at 2.30 p.m. Plans aro now ready, and the boundaries of tho sections are flagged. Highbury is situated near to tho Aro-struet tram terminus, Karori tram line, and tho Kalburno power-house, and is aproached by a. new road, channelled, -with asphalt path;. The firm aleo advertise tho sale on .Wednesday, 31ai instant, of the" subdivision of Sarsfield, Crofton, containing 33 moctiorus near tho railway station. On ,tno fame date Messrs. Betbune and ,Co. will sell, by order of the Registrar of'tho Supreme Court, a six-roomed dwelling on quarter-acre ccction, Rota-street, Lower Hutt. Eighty-eight allotments are advertised for auction on 21st November by Me*ire . H. Turnbull and Co. These" Ipts are situated on the Main Wilton-road, "Which connects Wadegtown with' Northland. Tho terms of salo are elated by the auctioneers to bo easy. All sections aro pegged. Plans and full particulars znsy be obtained from Messrs. William H. Turnball and Co., 3, Panama-street;, who will conduct intending purchasers over th« property at any time. One hundred and 'three sections at Lowry Bay_ will bo offor•*d ler ealo at auction in November next by tho ume firm. Plans aro now boing propared and roads constructed. Fifty of the sections havo frontage* to the 66*., J*ull particulars will-be- advertued later. .1