DEFENCE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 28 April 1922, Page 5

DEFENCE.

STAFF EFFICIENCY.

(BY TELEGRAPH —PUEBS ASSOCIATION.;

CHRISTCHURCH, April 2.7. An interesting statement as to his' intentions in regard to maintaining the j efficiency of the defence staff as far as the recent retrenchment will permit him was made by the Minister for Defence (Sir R. Heaton Rhodes) when laying the foundation stone of the Greenpark memorial hall to-day. The retrenching in the staff had previously been referred to by Mr. R. Macartney, who expressed the opinion thai every young New Zealander should be so trained in arms as to be ready whenever the call came. Sir Heaton Rhodes said Mr. Macartnel's ideal was a very proper one. The task of reducing the forces had been a necessary one. Other Ministers had had to dispense with the services of part of their staffs, but his own task had been all the harder for him, as he had had to dispense with men who had served loyally and well, not- only in New Zealand, but also overseas. However, the necessity for economy had made the step imperative. There had been a demand from Parliament and from the country for retrenchment; in fact, a certain section of the communify wanted no defence force at all, but he was determined that position should not arise.

The Minister said the department's object now was to keep an efficient and well trained staff of officers and n.e.o's. Such a trained staff they were determined to keep, as it had been shown in the Great War that a force! could He trained in a comparatively short time, but it was not so as far as officers and n.e.o's were concerned, and the smaller the staff that was retained the higher trained they must be. That principle would give an efficient skeleton force, about which a larger force could comparatively quickly be built as occasion demanded.