ALL KHAKI.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 102, 2 May 1911, Page 7

ALL KHAKI.

THF. NEW DEFENCE SCHEME. FULL PRESS EVENTUALLY TO GO. Some months ago it was announced that tho Territorials, under the new defence scheme, were to be attired in a khaki uniform of a serviceable kind, and that companies under the old volunteering system would lose their distinctive identity, save in the case of ceremonial occasions, when dre6S uniform could be worn. The new defence scheme Will provide for a regiment of defenders, not a collection of companies uniformed in apparel of varying brilliancy In a .word, individualism has got to go. Now the fact that the Highland Kifles, m their new designation of H Company, are tp figure in something more sombre •than the spectacular garb of the Seaforth Highlanders, is causing a good dfal of heart-burning, and it has. been seriously 'suggested that a meeting of the Scotchmen of Wellington should be called to protest against the indignity and the injustice which is to be put upon the gallant Scots if the present determination is allowed to stand. Jt is hardly likely, however, that such a step will be taken. On calmer reflection the Highlanders wiH see that they are in precisely the same position as the Guards and the Nayale, both of which companies will be obliged to foregq the attractive ■iull dress of other days, except on ceremonial occasions. Of course a difficulty will arise when the strength of the old companies, averaging about 60, is increased to 120, the requisite number under the now ' regulations. The question suggests itself ; where are the extra uniforms for dress occasions to come from? Obviously, an authority pointed out to a Post reporter to-day, they must be provided by the men themselves. And then, he afiked, who can gainsay that attachment to such a unit does not give an unjustifiable distinction, compared with the khaki drabnesa whfeh will surround other companies? Is the whole scheme to suffer, he further enquired, because aeniimental considerations of this kind cannot be overcome? Have not the Guard b the right to claim that tha uniform of the Grenadiers shall be retained to them? These and other questions, the authority previously mentioned said, are bound to arise. And the whole matter resolves itself into this i Are We to have a Territorial force uniformed as a Territorial force or not? It Would be manifestly stupid to haves one half of a company on a ceremonial ' occasion attired in full dress and the other half m khaki. It might be done in half-company formation, but in all dress parades a company has to be "sized," the talleefc men. being on the flanks. The spectacle of khaki-uniform-ed Territorials mixed up with men in, the dress of Seaforth Highlanders would be more than amusing. The Government will provide one uniform and one only. One can naturally sympathise with and approve of a propel 1 respect for old associations and national sentiment, but these can hardly be said to outweigh the success of the new scheme and what it means ■Vo New Zealand. What ie wanted now jfi military efficiency without friction, and the Highlanders are not the only people who will be called upon to make individual sacrifices. In brief that is the position as it was put to a representative; of this paper who made enquiries 'in well-informed quarters to-day.