DEFENCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8196, 30 January 1907, Page 2

DEFENCE.

I ■ ■■ Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Jan. 28. Speaking at a dinner by the "Wellington Rifle Battalion, Colonel Robin, Chief of the General Staff, and first military member of the Council of Defence, in referring to the necessity for effective defence, said:- —"In training troops there should be a definite goal in view, and to secure the best results it was necessary to move persistently to one objective. The object of all drill and training should be to perfect officers, so that they would be able to place their men in the position possible where they could be used to the best advantage, and to pk.ee them so that their fire would bo most effective. To do that to the best advantage some imaginative power was necessary. The officers should remember the importance of attack. Troops that could attack could always defend, for defence would never be successful without following up its advantage by attack. No troops that had depended solely on defence had done any lasting good for themselves." After Colonel Robin had pictured the attaining of a dominating position, the hailing of heavy fire from the field guns to suppress the rifle fire, by the enemy, and so to facilitate the advance of one's infantry, he spoke briefly on the duties of the Coi.ncil of Defence. To himself, as Chief of the General Staff, belonged the responsibility of training the troops of the colony to the general idea of what he had been endeavouring to convey. He did not want to shirk that responsibility for a moment. He wanted to move the whole system right on from where they now were to start a thorough system of instruction for officers, recognising that under competent officers competent men were assured, and the prospect of proper placing of men for the most effective fire made good. Given these conditions, he said he would be able to meet an enemy, if he ever came, though the Colonel hoped he would not come to the shores of Xew Zealand.