DEFENCE CONTROL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVII, Issue LXXVII, 30 May 1919, Page 4

DEFENCE CONTROL

HEA.DQUARTER'B CHANGES,

COMMISSION'S SUGGESnON ADOPTED.^

(Special to Star.) WELLINGTON, May 27. Rec#ftt changes at Defence Head' quarters show that the Minister of Defenoo ha* adopted one of the most important recommendations of the Defence jfixpendituj© Commission of laus^ y^al"* General' Richardson has taken over from- the general officer commanding (General Sir Alfred Robin) the position of quartermaster-general, and has- ako> undertaken the duties of adjutant-gene-ral, formerly carried out by Colonel Tait, now relieving the Samoan Administrator. The adjutant-general is thfe nearest approach. ia military organisa" tioE to an officer in charge of administration, and it. waa a foregone conclusion that this office would be abolished! when General Richardson took complete* charge of the administrative side of Defence matters. The general office commanding hag; important duties Jeft. to him, but he= will now be relieved of much work, and will be able to attend mere to the effective carrying out of the country's defence policy. The separation of the G.O.p.'s duties trom the purely administrative side was strongly urged by th& Defence Commission, which stated: ■ "The time has now como for. a clear division of thos3 duties. The administrative department is only a portion of the army machine, and tihe general officer (Commanding should therefore be the I ultimate court of appeal in cases of dispute. But because the general officer : commanding, as quartermaster-general, haa f>v deal with^administratnve mattera, ifc is natural enough that officers, charged with the, training "iurauchesT, which should have oeen kept separate and distinct from administration, should have> got into tihe habit of participating in inattem -quite outside >rtheir' true, -functions, and thufc the two sides of miUiafy procedure hav c become mixed." No doubt the Commission's viewr of the new administrative office will be folilovred, and General Richardson given; j control of the equipmen^and ordnane* , stores, financial services, movements and quartering, supplies and transport, con- , strucfcon and maintenance and vetewirary services..^ As for the duties'of gem*- , rai officer commanding^ the Commit sior J advice, which the Minister is evi<r™' adoptang, is thus expressed r •The geneial officer commanding shootix* really be^what is known in a private conoera a» general manager, supervising the wfoole, doing a s little as possible of detailed work himself, but seeirg that the work of the Department is carried on economicalry and efficiently. It ( is clear tt> us that the combined duties Jof general officer commanding and 'quartermaster-general could not have been performed had the work been entrusted to a less practical man than the general oftWr commanding, and had he not .had the energy and sustaining pow£ r or such a man as, the present Minister of Defence Wund him the wfioie adminwtrative sy&tenj would have j oeen.>'-? 11 our «PJ.nion, in serious ieonauCv insteact of having achieved, aT?fc na s don?, a large measure of success:"