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Northern Advocate, 9 November 1918, Page 4

In the course of a report of the Defence Officers' Conference which was connected with the Defence Expenditure Commission it is recommended that military nomenclatureshould be simplified. The report states that if the forces of the British Empire are to be enabled to act together, standardization and cohesion are absolutely necessary, and this has been stressed at Imperial Conferences on more than one. occasion. Our nomenclature is' based on that of the British Army for the purpose of standardization, and is understood by any Staff Officer in Britain, India, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and in the greater part of the Allied countries. Any of the appellations commented on by the Commission would convey to such a Staff Officer a knowledge of the duties preformed by the person so named. On tho other hand, a local nomenclature, even if it achieved the improbability of popular understanding, would mean nothing in the other parts of the Empire, and an extension of such a species of initiative would produce chaos. Our-nomenclature is either precisely the same or based with slight Viiriation upon the nomenclature adopted by the British Army. The "Director of Personal Services,'' the "Director of Equipment and Ordnance Stores," fchte "Director of Movements and Quartering," the 'Director of Supplies and Transport" are either exactly or substantially the same terms as are used in the British Army for the officers performing the duties which our offcers so named perform.