OFFICERS' RANK

Evening Star, Issue 16550, 9 October 1917, Page 6

OFFICERS' RANK

TERRITORIAL AND EXPEDITIONARY. v AN IMPORTANT STATEMENT. Some days ago Mr T. M. Wilford gav« notice to ask the Minister of Defence: (1) Under what legal authority are commissioned officers of the New Zealand military forces compelled to take lower rank (which is in some cases not a commissioned one) upon entering camp for the Expeditionary Forces? (2) Under what legal authority are tho commissions of officers who are thus compelled to assume a rank lowei than a commissioned one held in abeyance during their service with tho Expeditionary Forces? (3) Whether he does not consider that such compulsion to take a lower rank than a commissioned one is tantamount to depriving an officer of his commission, which can only "be done by a court martial? Answering the questions in the House ot Representatives, Sir James Allen said: "The New Zealand Expeditionarv Force is an equivalent part of tho Now' Zealand Defence Forces, is a separate entity raised under the authority of the Expeditionary Forces Act, 1915. and is subject to disappearance when the wav w over. When that event happens, and the Expeditionary Forco is disbanded, all rank created in "t will disappear with it. The Territorial Force and certain other portions of the New Z&aland Defence Fiorces are not evanescent, and wili remain after the Expeditionary Force is disbanded. Officers' ranks in the Territorial Force or other enduring portions of the Now Zealand Defence Forces are not necessarily ranks in the Expeditionary Force, although all appointments of officers in the Expeditionarv Force are supported bv existing or new commissions in the Territorial Forco or some other Miduring portion of the New Zealand Defence Forces. Officers holding commissions in the Territorial Force or other enduring part of the New Zealand Defence .Forces are appointed to certain spheres of duty. Officers are appointed to the Expeditionary Force by the GovernorGeneral under section 11 'of the Expeditionary Forces Act. An officer of the New Zealand Defenco Fgtms joining the Expeditionary Forco does not join it as an officer by virtue of his commission, but becomes an officer of the Expeditionarv Force by virtue of an appointment under section 11. Th-i Military Service Act creates an obligation of equal service for all persons, and this is not qualified bv the rank which such persons - may hold in the New Zealand Defence Forces. If a person holding a commission in the New Zealand Defence Forces were drawn in the ballot under the Military Service Act, and were not appointed an officer of the Expeditionary Forco by the Governor-General, he would serve in that forco as a private soldier. It has never been the custom, even before the Military Service Act came into force, to accept officers for the Expeditionary Force in the ranks they held in the New Zealand Defenco Forces merely because they held such ranks, but in all cases since the reinforcement camps have been established otfieers have been accepted only on probation, and they have had to make good. Sometimes these officers were appointed in the rank they held in the New Zealand Defence Forces, sometimes thev were appointed to lower ranks; but in all cases the commissioned service in the Expeditionary Force depended upon the appointment under section 11, Expeditionary Force Act, and was not a right inherent to the rank they held in the New Zealand Defence Forces. The position is now complicated by tho fact that only a pvopcrtiou of the vacancies are now available to officers holding commissions in the New Zealand Defence Forces, for provision must be made for tho absoiption of returned officers and of those non-commissioned officers of the New Zealand _ Expeditionary Force who earn commissions by virtue of their services in the field and the military qualifications they exhibit in the camps. When the Expeditionary Force was first formci a very large number of officers of all ranks were required, and no competent officer need have feared not "making good. The sup)i]y now exceeds requirements, and if officers of the New. Zealand Defence Forces whose turn to serve comes now_ were all appointed as officers, vacancies would have to be denied to noncommissioned officers who have; earned promotion to commissioned rank. Officers of the New Zealand Defence Forces who enter reinforcement camps may bo divided into two classes, one class being those who have volunteered for service in whatever rank is accorded, them, and tho other elass those who have gone into camp on account of the obligation created by the Military Sen-ice Act. 1. (a) Officers volunteering for reinforcements do 6o on the understanding that they must make good, and that tho rank which will be accorded them depends upon the degree of efficiency they exhibit; (b) officers drawn in the ballot or coming into camp on account of obligation imposed upon them by the_ Military Service Act are liable to servo in the same way as other persons subject to that Act, which is no respecter of persons, and contains no provisions saving tho commissioned rank of any person upon whom the lot falls. 2. The commissions of officers who aro compelled to assume a rank in the Expeditionary Force lower than tho commissioned rank held in the Now Zealand Defence Forces are not held in oboyance, but remain substantive commissions in that branch of the service to which they belong. For instance, a lieutenant in tho sth Regiment may go into camp, and not receive an appointment as an officer in the Expeditionary Force. His commissioned rank in tho New Zealand Defence Forces remains alive, aid is not affected by his service in the Expeditionary Forco. 3. Compelling an officer of the New Zealand Defence Forces to take a lower rank in the Expeditionarv Force than his commissioned rank in the New Zealand Defence Forces is not tantamount to depriving that officer of his commission. He retains bis commission in the New Zealand Military Forces, although he has not been appointed as an officer in the Expeditionary Force and serves therein in a lower rank.