DEFENCE

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 146, 18 December 1919, Page 10

DEFENCE

TO TCI BDHOR.

Sir,—l have read Mr. Erii«sfc JVluir's lotter_ which appeared in The Post of the 13th idem, and I may inform Mr. Muir that I saw the Honourable Minister of Defence's statement in the papers of the 25fch November last. later alia tho statement roads as follows:—"In a. statement regarding Territorial training Sir James Allen said it appeared that many of the public opposed four months' concentration o£ Territorials during tho first year. The public must bo the ultimate judge of what was best. ... The present system was inefficient, and if they wanted to get tho best^ results from the expenditure it certainly should- be improved." _ Now, sir, this, 1 think, is * great admission, especially as it comes from the Minister of Defence himself. Why does he not give a sensible lead and cut out all this extraneous expenditure? Is it necessary to allow nuch waste to obtain, and do tho public really know what is being spent on officers salaries and travelling allowances alono? Sir. our present schemo is far too unwieldy, far too" costly, for our smair Dominion. Mr. Skerrett, at tho Welfare League meeting at the Town Hall the other evening, hit the nail on the head when ho said, "God protected New Zealand by .the waters of the Pacific." So long as we can do our duty to tho Navy wo can well afford to use the pruning knife m connection with tho high cost of administration of our land defence. The people of New Zealand may well pride themselves on being patriotic, and the time k fast coming when they will a.wakaii to. tho fact they •• are getting very little return in proportion to tho hugo amount n c.°? ts *° run Wie Department of Defence. Efneiency and economy arc unknown quantities, . and with so many officers doing precious- little for tho high remuneration they roceivo it is high time something wero done to curtail-this expenditure. . ■

Sir, lot, us. by all- means profit by . tho colossal mistakes we have made in the past, instead of piling u . p f rc6 h expenditure. Regarding our Expeditionary liwce, we. havo after all to largely thank the volunteers, rifle clubs, and cadets for tho excellent men who left New Zealand to do tlcir little bit, fir our Empire. Finally, sir, .we have-to tear in mind wo shall require. to .foot-the;, bill for the Air l'_oreo and tho extra expenditure-for tho Nayy i—X anj ( ate,, • ■ • --