DEFENCE BILL. COMPULSORY TRAINING.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 134, 3 December 1909, Page 2

DEFENCE BILL. COMPULSORY TRAINING.

THE GOVERNMENT'S NEW PROPOSALS. Abolition of the volunteers and the substitution of what is to be known as a Territorial Forge are the main features of the Defence Bill, which was brought down by Governor's Message just before tho House rose early this morning. A Council of Defence is established, consisting of " the Minister of Defence (president), the Chief of the General Staff, and a finance member to be appointed by the Governor. Power is given to the Governor to raise and maintain a force to be called the "Territorial Force." consisting of such number of men as may from time to time be provided for by Parliament. The force will only be liabje for service in New Zealand. All commissioned officers x will be appointed by the Governor, on the recommendation of a Board of Selection appointed for each district by the Council of Defence. On a day to be notified by proclamation all volunteer coips will cease to exist, and their assets and liabilities will vest in the Crown. Volunteers may enrol in the Territorial Force. The training of the Territorial Force will be ,-»s prescribed, and at the end of each year's training ench member will be classified as "efficient" or "nonefficient," and the latter will be liable to extra special training in the succeeding year. Every one under 30 years of age who has been classified as efficient for three years will be drafted into the Eeserve, unless, on application, he is permitted to continue in the Territorial Force. In regard to the Militia, it is provided, not only, as at present, that it shall consist of all males between the ages of 17 and 55, but that these "are II 1 „?.' 0 . to . be trained and servo in the Militia." It also provides that in case of war the Governor may call out the Militia, and, if Parliament is not then sitting, it must in such a case be summoned to meet within ten days. The embodiment of the forces in time of war will be carried out by the Council oi Defence. All male inhabitants of New Zealand who have resided here for six months, and are British subject?, are liable to be trained as follows :— (a) From 12 years to 14 years of age, or to date of leaving school, whichever ls .™e ] ater, in the Junior Cadets. (b) l'rom 14 years of age, or to the date of leaving school, as the case may / vr, 18 - veavs ' in the Senior Cadets. (c) From 18 to 21 years of age in the General Training Section (d) From 21 to 30 years in the Reserve. - Provision is made for the training of junior cadets, who on reaching the age of 14 will go into the senior cadet corpa. Ihe tranung will consist of discipline, elementary military exercises, and musJfetry, or gunnery. 1 The training of the General Training Section will consist of 14 days in training camp and 12 half days, except in the artillery and engineer branches, which will have 14 days in camp and twenty half days or their equivalent. Iho training of the Reserve will consist of two muster parade* in each year Defence Rifle Clubs are continued, but it is provided that no one liable to be trained (except in the Reserve) is to be eligible for membership ol' such a club Within three months after the Act oomes into force ever# person liable for training must apply in writing to tho presrnbed office to be' registered. Persons physically unfit are exempted from training. Failure to apply for registration is an offence punishable by Hne and deprivation of electoral right; and it is also an offence for an employer to prevent an employee from rendering the service required of him or to penalise him in s any way therefor. Failure to enrol in the militia when regmred is punishable as an act oi! desertion within the meaning of the Army Act, and punishable accordingly. Power is given to the Governor to establish and maintain arms and ammunition factories, and ,set apart any Crown land for permanent training ground. ° Exemption will be granted on religious grounds_, but persons so exempted will be required to do such other services as are prescribed by the Governor in Council. THE SCHEME REVIEWED. TRAINING CADETS. (Specially Written for the Post.) [By Major Boyd Wilson.] The defence proposals arc now before the country, and may be described as one of tho most important and epochmaking suggestions that any legislative body in the British Empire* has been called upon to deal with. The relentless march of events, the magnitude and the general prosperity of the Empire have caused envious eyes to be. turned on us from the Continent of Europe, and the undisguised preparations for war, and the feverish haste in constructing battleships, of a character which can only bo regarded as a direct menace to England, and consequently to all her Dominions and Colonies, by the principal military nation of Europe, has caused the Empire at large to acquiesce in measures of defence which only a few years ago would have been looked upon with horror by the bulk of the population, and scouted on public platforms as revolutionary and militant. A SOUND, PRACTICAL SCHEME. New Zealand has not failed in her duty to herself and to the Empire in general; the scheme put forward by the Government is sound, practical, and patriotic; it ensures that the defence of the country will for the future be provided by the people, and that the youth and young manhood of the Dominion will arnvo at man's estate with a sound, practical grounding in the* theory and. practice of a military education, which will enable them to take their places in the General Training Section and become eligible for service in the lemtonal Force which will become the 1< "'? fc Line - There are three universal obligations for every boy who has resided m New Zealand for six months - he must serve in his school corps of junior cadets trom twelve till fourteen years of age, or until he leaves school; he must on leaving school serve in a senior cadet corps until he attains the age of eighteen years, and from eighteen to twenty-one years of age he must serve in the General .Training Section. 1< rom the General Training Section he may, if he so wishes, volunteer to serve in the Territorial Force, and is liable, should the number of volunteers fall below the prescribed strength, to be chosen by ballot or otherwise to serve m the ranks of the Territorial Force. THE CADETS. For the scheme as a whole there can ibe nothing ,but praise; it is sample, •practical, and avoids taking men to any great extent from their civil employment ; but there is one clause to which ■attention should be called, and that is the time prescribed for the training of the senior cadet corps. The naragv&ph referred iff rja.de sa fol|ow.e :-=".Tht pr*-.

ecribed training in the senior cadets is in each year ending the lusb day of •February not to exceed six whole day drills, twelve half-day drills, and twenty-four night drills, or their equivalents." This is much too short a time for youths of from fourteen to eighteen to give to their military duties; it is while the young men are in the senior cadet corps that the whole foundation of their future usefulness will be laid, and adequate time should be set apart for this purpose. A boy of from twelve to fourteen -can learn the mechanical routine of drill, and the discipline which he will instinctively acquire during this ■period will go far Towards moulding his character, but he can hardly be expected to recognise' the end to which all this training is a means at that Render age. But by the time- he has left school, and has joined the senior .cadet corps, he is beginning to have a wider viow of life, and can begin lo apply the rudiments which have already ibeen taught him ; and it is now that he ought to have every opportunity of practising the lessons he has already received in the military art ; and for this ■purpose six whole days, twelve halfdays, and twenty-four night drills are all too little. Provision should bo made for senior cadets attending camp for at least fourteen days during this -ortion of their career, and it would not be asking too much if in addition the number of whole and half days be doubled, the night drills are^ not of nearly so much importance, for nowadays the essential parts of a soldier's education are taught him out of doors in the country, and the only instruction that can be given at night drills is purely theoretical and mechanical ; and as the cadet will have passed through these early stages while in the junior corps it will ibe, to a great extent, a waste of time to repeat the old elenientary exercises, of which ho has probably got thoroughly tired, in the uninteresting atmosphere of a drill hall. It cannot- be said that the employment of youths at this ago will act as an impediment in the way of giving them a good sound military training in the open air, for their work cannot as yet be of mucn importance to their employers, and in the case of those who are studying for the professions they intend to adopt, a course of interesting military training will provide a holiday, and a rest from the application to which will .prove beneficial ratlfer than a loss of time in their studies. A noteworthy feature in the scheme is the evident intention of having the forces of the Dominion all trained in a general system of uniformity which is adopted from the British Army, and in this much that is excellent is apparent, for in the event of New Zealand forces ever being called upon to act in conjunction with their comrades of the Home Army, one universal system throughout will be of the greatest importance for the best results to be attained. These are some of the more prominent features which strike the reader when first glancing over the provisions of the Bill, but during the debate and discussion which will take place before the measure attains a place on the Statute Book, opportunity will be given to enter more fully into the details of the proposals.