MILITARY TRAINING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 10110, 18 October 1917, Page 5

MILITARY TRAINING.

TERRITORIAL PARADES. TO BE DISCONTINUED IN COUNTRY DISTRICTS. (FaoM Otjb Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 17. A petition for the release from camp of a young man alleged to be physically unfit drew a protest from the Defence Minister, who warned members against interference with ordinary military procedure in a matter of this kind. "We have tried to eliminate all influence from the operation of the Military Service Act," lie said. "1 have set my face- against influence from any quarter, and I have done my best to administer the Act fairly and squarely to everybody. There is rising now a custom of petitioning Parliament with the object of securing the release from service of particular men, and behind these petitions there is sometimes considerable influence. We ought not to countenance that sort of thing." The committee had recommended no action in the matter, and the proposal to lefer the petition back to the committee was defeated by forty-one votes to twenty. SirJas. Allen made an important announcement regarding the territorial force. He said that a conference of officers commanding the military districts had sat in Wellington, and had recommended that territorial parades should cease in the country districts. He.proposed to approve of this recommendation, and extend' it to cover senior cadet parades in the country, but he would not dicontinue the parades in the towns.