DEFENCE TRAINING

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 50, 27 August 1930, Page 10

DEFENCE TRAINING

NO FURTHER PROVISION

A WELCOME ECONOMY

1 Some speculation is being indulged in in the lobbies at Parliament House as to whether the Government will introduce a clause in the Appropriation Bill tb give effect to the provision in tho Defence (Temporary) Amendment Bill, which was defeated in the Legislative Council, enabling the Defence Department to recognise voluntary organisations for purposes of-military training. Questioned on the subject, the Minister of Defence (the Hon. J. G. Cobba) stated that there was no such intention at present. ' . ■

It is understood that had the Defence Amendment Bill been passed there would have been immediate applications from several districts for assistance in setting up voluntary training, organisations. Indeed, the Minister received one such application from Hawkes Bay while the Bill was before the House of Bepresentatives. .

[ Questioned before his departure for the Imperial Conference as to the effect of the defeat of the Bill by the Upper House, the Prime Minister stated that it amounted to a further economy. He said that the removal of the amusement tax; from the Is 6d tickets deprived the Government of about £30,000 in anticipated revenue, and that ' the Government would have to look for other means of making it up. It would seem that the, defeat of the Defence Amendment Bill by the Legislative Council provided the Prime , Minister with the very opportunity he was seeking to effect a further economy, for it has been variously estimated that the cost of administering a voluntary system of defence training would be between £10,000 and £25,000 a year.