PERMANENT FORCES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20619, 18 July 1930, Page 12

PERMANENT FORCES.

MINIMUM REDUCTION. COST OF THESE BRANCHES. TRAINING EXPENSES COMPARED. "To reduce the permanent forces as lil lln as possible." This, from the new military scheme, which reduces (he territoiial force to 600 officers and* 2000 warrant. and non-commissioned officers, lias an extraordinary appearance, seeing tliaL t lie whole purposo of the change is economy. I( has been stated that, members of the clerical' staff of the Defence department have heen advised to hold themselves in readiness for transference) to other Government departments, hut what of other sections? bearing in mind the decision to reduce, the permanent forces as little as possible, which means the retention of as many as possible, it is interesting to make a stocktaking of these forces and their cost. The New Zealand Staff Corps comprises 79 officers. Following aro the details: — One. commandant at a salary of £1200; four brigadiers, £BOO to £BSO each; five lieutenant-colonels, £7OO to £765; 16 majors. £515 to £615; 30 captains, £440 to £515; 17 lieutenants, £SOO to £385; five second lieutenants at £3OO and one cadet at £52. The total cost last year was £39,343, this sum not including traveiling a 1 lowaiices. The New Zealand Permanent Staff has a strength of 134. made up as follows: Seven honorary lieutenants at 21s per day; 58 warrant officers, class 1, 19s 6d to 21s; 11 warrant officers, class 2. 18s to 19s 6d: 32 staff-sergeants, 15s to 18s; five sergeants, 15s to 16s 6d; 13 corporals. 13s 4d: and eight privates, 12s. The total cost last vear, apart from allowances, was £44.710. ' Cost of Other Units. The Royal New Zealand Artillery, which has a strength of 115 officers and oilier ranks, has a defence function not confined to the training of territorials, and its cost in relation to the territorial forces has to bo discounted to some degree. Nevertheless, its details ought to be given. They are as follows: —Ono lieutenantcolonel at £765; four majors, £515 to £615; four captains, £4OO to £515; two lieutenants, £3OO to £383; three honorary lieutenants, 21s per day; ono master gunner, 21s; three regimental sergeanlsnuijor, 20s to 21s; one •sergeant-major artificer, 20s 6d; 11 warrant officers, class 2, 18s 6d to 19s 6d; 18 staff-sergeants, 16s lOd to 18s 6d; five sergeants, 17s 3d to 18s; two lance-sergeants, 17s 3d; 11 bomhadiers, 14s lOd to 17s 3d; 20 lancebombadiers, 12s 10(1 to 16s 6d; 29 gunners, 12s to 16s 6d. '1 he total cost last year was £36,143. Tho New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps, comprising one major, five captains, two lieutenants and 116 other ranks, cost in salaries £38,924. The New Zealand Army Pay Corps, comprising one lieu-tenant-colonel, o,ne major, two cs.ptains, one lieutenant and 11 warrant and noncommissioned officers, cost £6847. Tho New Zealand Army Service Corps cost £4290; tho New Zealand Army Medical Corps cost £2316; the general duty section, embracing caretakers, range wardens. firemastcrs, Tiight watchmen, etc., £9373; the clerical, general and non-per-manent divisions, £17,267. Total Salaries £207,811, The total of these corps and sections, plus the sum of £8598 expended upon the military education of officers undergoing instruction abroad, was £207.811. The total sum spent upon "purchases, rnain- , tenance and training" was £237,858. The total expenditure last year, ineludl ing £53.097 on military aviation, £6300 . on civilian aviation, £1570 to the National Rifle Association, £350 to rifle clubs and | £4201 on non-effective services, was £490,587. The new proposal is that the cost must not. be more than £275,000. Obviously the cost of training will he very small by comparison with tho figure of jast year, seeing that only 600 officers and 2000 non-commissioned officers will attend parades and camp, and only tho secondary school cadets will require the services of instructors. Thus it seems fairly evident that the permanent forces are not to be, cut in anything approaching the degree that might have been expected, seeing that the territorial force can hardly be called a skeleton. The question seems to be whether a general saving could have been made all round without wiping out the work of 21 years. The position as one discerns it might be likened to that of a country scrapping the whole of its navy and retaining all its admirals and staff. SAFETY OF COUNTKY. PROTESTS AGAINST POLICY. NATIONAL DEFENCE LEAGUE. [TIV TKLECiHA I'll. —I'lt ESS ASSOCIATION.] WELr; rxG TON, Thursday. The following resolutions were passed this afternoon at a combined meeting of the general council and the, Wellington district council of the National Defence League of New Zealand: — (]) That tliis meeting outers an emphatic protest, against the action of tho Government in suspending tho compulsory provisions of the Defence Act, and does so upon the following grounds: (a) That noitficr Parliament nor the country was consulted in the matter, and the action taken was undemocratic and unconstitutional; (!>) that by the Government's action New Zealand has been placed in the position of being unable to protect herself, or to fulfil her military obligations to either the Empire or the League of Nations, to both of which she stands solemnly committed. (c) That New Zealand has thus thrown the, onus for her defence upon the already over-burdened Mother Country, which, while maintaining a defence expenditure of £110.000.000, ended last year with a deficit of €14,500,000, and now has close upon 2,000.000. persons unemployed; (d) that the Government, by its action, has thus placed New Zealand in the position of having in ftieallv no defence force at all. thereby rendering it the weakest .State in the Empire. (e) That this action has been taken at ! a time when Mr Hamsay Mac] lonald, the ! British Labour Prime Minister, has I spoken c.f a great decline in the peace spirit of the world, when the supremacy of the British Navy has vanished, and when the position of the Empire is seriously menaced in both India arid Egypt. (2) That this meeting protests against New Zealand, always foremost among the nations of tho Empire in proofs of its lovaltv, being placed in such a false and difhonourable position. I.'j) That this meeting calls the attention of llio general public to the grave (~< ;,.r <• to the future safety of the connby the adoption of a. policy which, i.M-vi'f there ir, temporary financial cm- - r;;>*.rr>'-n<, immediately resorts to r,trie largest cuts in the defeiifo arid point-, r,nl, that under such a ? v '/■-/( !}.'■('■ 'an be no hope of efficiency • •'<: f j l lll •• d. fence io.ee, of New Zea-