OFFICERS EXPENSES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12272, 16 May 1903, Page 1 (Supplement)

OFFICERS EXPENSES.

IffIMMITTEE RECOMMEND DRASTIC REFORMS.

The public is already familiar with some of the recommendations embraced in the report issued by the committee appointed to inquire into the expenses of army officers, and to suggest measures for bringing commissions within the reach of men of moderate means. The inquiry has elicited the fact that the total initial expenses of a subaltern on entering an infantry regiment are £200, and those of a cavalryman £600, which may be £1000. The infantry officer must have an income of from £60 to £150, in addition to his pay, and the cavalry officer must have £260 to £700. These are minimum figures as the case stands. The committee strongly recommend that all officers of mounted corps shall be mounted at the expense of the Remount Department, and that saddlery and shoeing of horses be free. They suggest that_ it is desirable for the cavalryman to continue hunting as part of his training, but this at his own expense. But against lavish entertainments, elaborate race-lun-cheons, and similar entertainments, the committee resolutely turn their face. "If they cannot be checked by other means the total prohibition of regimental hospitality may have to be considered. Against polo tournaments, too, the committee declare: "They have received such unanimous testimony as to the injurious effects of the competition produced by inter-regimental tournaments, in the payment of enormous prices for trained ponies at heavy expense to all the officers of a regiment, that they see no alternative but to recommend the abolition of all such tournaments in the United Kingdom, and the prohibition of regimental teams from taking part in matches outside their own district," Other recom-

mendations include the relieving of officers of all expenses in connection with regimental bands; the avoidance of frequent changes of station; the adherence to one style of uniform; the wearing by officers of nothing but authorised articles of uniform ; the strict observance of service conditions for all ranks at manoeuvres; uniformity of mess accounts throughout the service. Not the least important suggestion is the one to provide that " commanding officers who connive at gross personal extravagance or inordinately expensive habits in their regiments will be considered unfit to retain their position, and that any case of combination among regimental officers with a view to excluding desirable entrants on no other ground than alleged insufficiency of private income will be treated with the utmost severity."