N.Z. FORCES

Grey River Argus, 24 July 1941, Page 3

N.Z. FORCES

Need of Automatic Arms (P.A.) WELLINGTON, July 23. When the House met at 2.30 p.m., the Budget debate was continued oy Mr J. B. F. Cotterill (Govt., Wanganui). The member was in his unilorm as a Sergeant of the Territorials. He dealt espe'ciaily with tine training of our armed torces, doth in tne Dominion and overseas. A great lesson to be learned xrom the campaigns in Crete and in Greece, he said, w’as that the day of tne singlesnot service rille was something oi the past, and that to De successful iniantry, in modern warfare, must be equipped with automatic arms, fine sooner ou r troops overseas, and in l\ew Zealand, too, were so equipped, the sooner we would be able to wring this war to a successful concuision. "Since the outbreak of the war,' continued Mr Cotterill, “we nave been able to bring into being a very efficient dexence xorce in the Dominion. fine system of twelve weeks’ intensive military training for our Territorials has nad surprisingly effective results, and many of tnese men nave probaoly learned more in that period than the average member ox the Expeditionary Forces learned before tney left lor overseas. It is necessary that that standard should De maintained.” Mr Cotterill drew attention to the infrequency with which some Territorials attended the regular parades after their period of twelve weeks' intensive training had been completed. The Minister, he suggested, should take action to inflict some penalty tor non-attendance at such parades. Mr Cotterill also mentioned the discrepancy m the ages of the two classes oi the Territorials—the men from 18 to 20 years, and the men from 41 to 45 years. Many of the latter age group, he said, were not ox tne type to make successful soldiers. He thought that the Unit Commanders should be given discretion to return those men who would not make successful soldiers, to their civil occupations. . Dealing with the Home Guard, Mr W. S. Goodman (Nat., Waikato), said there was a considerable amount of unrest and dissatisfaction among members regarding .equipment and other matters, xie suggested that the Government snouid appoint someone to discuss with those in charge of the Home Guard various grievances alleged, and restore the organisation to a position it should occupy.