LOCAL CAMPS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 17039, 14 December 1915, Page 6

LOCAL CAMPS.

Colon-kl GmnoK may frankly be complimented on the industry revealed in his in reply- to the arguments for local camps, but we doubt if ho has yet thoroughly appreciated the position, and we think the soundest of the reasons submitted to Mr Massey have received the least attention from the Chief of the General Staff. It is quite correct to urge that efficiency must not be prejudiced. Wo hope the military authorities will continue to insist upon that. Tho nature of tho fighting is so severe that only the best soldiers are worth sending to the front, and New Zealand is grateful to those responsible for the preparation of the splendid contingents which have done high credit to the Dominion on the battlefield. But there is no wish among local camp advocates to interfere with efficiency. The sole desire is to help keep up the supply of raw material, and that task, which is naturally becoming* heavier as the months go by and resources not without limit are drained, is seriously handicapped, in our opinion, for the want of local preparatory camps—or receiving camps, if the authorities prefer to put it that way. Wo. arc afraid the difficulties are not realised at headquarters, where, of course, they are not experienced. If they were, tho Minister of Defence would hardly be told by a responsible officer that the Department has no concern with the temporarily unfit. That is simply a hugo mistake, for the Defence Department is concerned first in securing the men before it can train them. Perhaps it would be. unwise to shorten the term of training at the main camp, but there could bo no possible results that would not hehelpful in revising the scheme so that every fit man who is prepared to become a soldier shall he promptly accepted and every Unfit recruit who can be made tit shall be taken in hand wnthout a moment's delay. Every man should be. sworn in upon enlistment, accepted for the time being, accommodated in a local camp until wanted at Trentham, and. in. every possiblo case where reasonable application of medical skill will overcome defects it should be available. In scores of instances all that is required to make a.n inefficient man suitable is a special course of physical exercise. Are these matters outside the Defence. Department's sphere of. work? They do not come into the scheme of training at Trentham, we kuow; but there should!

bo sufficient imagination in the official military mind to see that opportunities aro now being ignored to the detriment of recruiting. If it were only for dealing with tho temporarily unfit local camps would' justify themselves oyer and over again, and the country would secure many n good soldier now lost though urgently needed. Other arguments, however, have been produced in abundance. Colonel Gibbon has been too determined to emphasiso tlio importance of efficient training, which has never lioen questioned, to enable him to treat tho whole question quite on its merits.