TWO TO ONE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 21 May 1914, Page 5

TWO TO ONE

OENERAI HAMILTON'S REPORT Oft AUSTRALIAN FORGES BATTLE PIE Li) CONDITIONS PROSPECTS AGAINST PICKED THOOPS (Press Association.-—Cory right.) SYDNEY, May 20. General Sir lan Ilamiltotl's report, on tin- military forces of the Common wraith has been published. The I tispector-Gene-ral lays it down that the actual strength nf the State consists in the aggregate striking power of its armies and which should be as interdependent as the forefinger and thumb. He declares that in the militia there is no room for a peace system divorced from war requirements. Therefore during peace the military services should be organised under war conditions. After remarking that Australia's attention has so far been necessarily concemraUd upon training, Sir lan Hamilton savs Ihe time is now almost ripe for consolidating the existing forces into a carefully planned instrument of war. He condemns the centralisation of the Defence Department at Melbourne, adding that actually the Australian system as it exists to-day is purely the product of peace procedure, and could not hope to carry on beyond the first few weeks of n war. He advocates the separation of the business administration from the purely military side. The report concludes by stating that the whole of the regulars and threefourths of the militia are suiriciently trained to partake in a modern battle, supposing such an occasion arose the day after to-morrow. With two weeks' warning, the remaining fourth of the militia, pins some 20,000 of the flower of the rifle clubs, would be available as reinforcements.

Sir lan Hamilton adds: "I .mean v that a proportion of the forces have'not onlv a willing spirit, hut the actual te'.'lini.-al skill which would enable one . iran to handle them in action, but how would they faro on the battlefield? Giving due weight to the moral factor that they would be fighting : for a country well worth defendin.tr, and of which they have local knowledge", they would need to be iii a majority of at least two to' one to light a pitched battle with ; pieked troops from overseas on equal terms." The comparative lack of discipline and cohesion shewing up strongly \vhcrc | large forces are involved are his reasons lor allowing so large a margin of superiority to any invading forces. "AUSTRALIANS SHOWING THE WAY." TO THE GREAT POWERS. (Received 8.45 a.n:.) SYDNEY, This Day. General Hamilton, dealing -with compulsory training, said it was no use pretending that cadet training had already justified itself as a full substitute for prolonged adult recruit training. Insufficient allowances were made by critics for difficulties inevitable in the inauguration of an original scheme; but the difficulties would" grow less each year. He adds that if the Empire understood the full significance xii the Australian experiment prayers would continually be offered for it's success : but since most people in the Northern Hemisphere had been carefully misinformed by interested fanatics the Australians would have to trust to their own good sense to pull the business through. With courage and perseverance thev may yet be able to boast that thev showed the way to the ..-rcat military Powers to raise power) ul armies-with a minimum on the priceless time of the adult male worker ihe Australian soldier was very amenable to discipline. The best assets of the army to-dav are a soldierlike spirit of intelligence and wiry frames in the rank Hamilton strongly advocates the formation and development, of military aviation, and suggests a pension scheme foi» the permanent forces.