ARMY REORGANISATION.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 111, 20 May 1901, Page 2

ARMY REORGANISATION.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright London, .May 17. In the House of Commons, in the do: bate on Army reorganisation, Mr Asquith characterised some of the proposals. as a retrograde effort, which destroyed tho. foundation of Caldwell’s reform, anti treated Home defence as a military rather than a navy question. Mr Rrodrick justified the policy of centralisation, consolidating sixteen commands into six, and producing units which were not too largeor general, hut sufficiently large to bo administratively independent of the War Office. Next in importance to delegation of authority and organisation to uuits came the work of improved training for them, reform of "tho medical service, transport, and the War Office itscif.—

(Cheers.) Ho solicited a vote in favor of the spiritof the scheme, which he referred

to as a skeleton, clothed with fiesh and

blood, according to tho needs of the situation. Tho recruiting and housing last year fully met the requirements of the service, and had yielded sixteen thousand men, apart from twenty-five thousand who were raised for special emergency corps. On tho question of increased pay, he held that increases without an absolute necessity would only tempt Liberal members to come down and spoil the regiments. He pointed out that an inquiry would have revealed the unpreparedness of the Army in 1880, when Mr Gladstone challenged Russia. . In summing up in the debate on army re-organisation, Mr Balfour recalled the fact that in one particular moment during 1899-1900 there were only three thousand three hundred rounds of small arms ammunition and no adequate reserve of artillery ammunition in this country. Ho would never forget the strain..

The press is indignant over this ad misison of Mr Balfour’s.

Lord Rosebery said the previous Government was expelled because its normal supply of 142 millions of small arms ammunition had sank to nearly three millions. The present Government had had its supply increased to one hundred and seventy millions; nevertheless, under war pressure • this was almost exhausted, though public and ■private factories made tremendous efforts. •