BUSH WARFARE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24542, 26 March 1943, Page 4

BUSH WARFARE

INTERESTING COIJESft AMERICANS TAKE PART American and New Zealand servicemen have been training together in a Northern Military District bush warfare course which will be completed to- (i day. The association of the two allies has been particularly happy and the course has been mutually beneficial. ( The chief instructor is a New Zea lander, Second-Lieutenant Ken Richardson, a son of the late Major-General Sir George Richardson. " The course has been the first of its typo in the district, although it is ex- ' pected that others will shortly bo held as part of the duties of the Northern Military District School of Instruction. • It has included a large number of < subjects, from elementary bush lore, < finding direction, bush navigation, to i the instruction and practice of bush i tactics in such movements as advances, ; withdrawals and ambushes. Christian Names Used : Officers and other ranks from specialised Home Guard formations have worked alongside American officers and j ] men. In the time they have been train- | ■ nig together each nationality has had good opportunity to recognise the . merits and virtues of the other and it has been noteworthy that every officer and man has been known to all the , others by his Christian or nickname. I Skilled buslimen among the Home Guardsmen have taught the Americans much they wanted to know, and equally valuable has been the contribution of the Americans to the knowledge of the New Zealanders. Not the least of the ( benefits to the Home Guardsmen has been the chance to learn the Americans' weapons. Two of the Americans are graduates of the British commando j schools and several of the New Zea-1 landers have not only had active ser-1 vice in the Middle East, but have also: been through various bush and commando courses, so that the opportunities for an exchange of valuable knowledge were obvious. A partv of New Zealand officers and representatives of the Hkium) visited: the course this week. The men were found on the banks of a bush stream three miles into the ranges from the nearest • homestead. A climb to about 1900 ft. and the traverse of a track through dense growth were needed before the party came out at the stream. Visiting Party Ambushed Thev were ambushed when thev got | there. Grenades and gelignite bombs I burst within a few yards after being thrown by Americans hidden in the bush. Unexpected additional realism came when a stone fragment ripped through the battledress of a New Zealand colonel and cut his leg. The visitors were later given a series of demonstrations by the personnel tak--1 ing the course. The first showed an attack across a defended river; the second 1 a Japanese-type infiltration attack on ■ a defended line in thick bush; the third the n.se of Judo, an unarmed combat method which appeared to include jiu- ■ jitsu. boxing and wrestling; and the [ fourth showed the use of boot-irons for ■ climbing trees to a sniping position. I Japanese Infiltration Particularly interesting was the Japan-ese-type infiltration. It was made in " two echelons, or groups. The first was the silent echelon and it got into position for an attack under cover of an : unholy and unearthly din made bv the - second, or attention-distracting, eche- ; ion. This group made all the noise it could, adding to human shrieks the ' wail of a siren and the loud notes of a binrle, while fn the meantime the silent" echelon crept round the del fenders' flank and flung themselves for- } ward at the height of the noise on the 3 front and the other flank. Although there was no chance in one r day's visit of seeing everything which : the bush warfare group has been learning, enough was seen to show the value of such instruction. 11l addition, the visit gave a good chance to appreciate the keenness of the soldiers taking the course and the care and experience which had gone into preparing it.

TRADING BANKS RETURN FOR FEBRUARY DEPOSITS TOTAL £107,500,000 (0.C.) WELLINGTON, Thursday Tlie principal items in the _ return of assets and liabilities of the six trading banks at the close of business 011 Monday, February 22, are compared with the corresponding figures at January 25 in the following table: — February -lanuary Circulation £05,188,070 £24,937,562 Free deposits . . 79,029,544 74.660,926 Fixed deposits. . 25,528,00S 28,308,131 Advances . . 41,271,151 43,089,012 London assets. . 13,955,641 12,033,821 Notes of the Reserve Bank held in bank tills on February 22 were valued at £-1.845,385, compared with £5,053.823 a month before. The issue and acti.-o circulation at the end of February in the past five years have been:— Issue Circulation 1939 .. .. £14,905,015 £10,969,487 1910 .. .. 18,025,863 13,301,402 1911 .. .. 21,382,477 16,441,955 JSMO .. .. 23,455,869 19,510,972 1913 .. .. 30,033,401 25,155,070 A comparison of tho aggregate deposits, advances, and excess of deposits in the February returns in the past five years is as follows: — Deposits Advances Excess (i £ £ 193!) .. 07,452,980 54.725.519 12,727,167 1910 .. 78,009,208 47.005,101 31,574,107 1011 .. 85,069,680 47,282,413 37,787,167 19 12 .. 91,070,410 17,050,329 44,014,057 1913 . 107.557.552 11,271,154 66.286,50S Fluctuations in the value of assets hold abroad, on account of Now Zealand business, as shown in the February returns in the past live years, have been as follows: — London Elsewhere Total C£ £ * 1939 .. 5.001,308 1,704,277 0,715,645 1940 .. 10,552,575 1,869,754 12,422,329 1911 .. 14.-197,176 2,320,932 10.524.408 1942 .. 10,207,141 2,801,115 13.005.550 1913 . 13,955,011 2,070,035 16,032,270 Overseas liabilities on account of New Zealand business total £719,661 in the February statement, against £902,355 at the end of January. Subsidiary coin held at February 22 was valued at £614,]88, compared with £615,796 in the January return. CRIME BY YOUNG MEN PROBLEM OF PUNISHMENT "These cases of burglary by very young men of previous good character are very troublesome," said Mr. Justice Callan yesterday, when George Bridle Maunder, aged 20 (Mr. Aekins), who has been in the army for about eight months, was charged with breaking into a shop at Russell and stealing £4 10s. Mr. Cleal appeared for the Crown. Mr. Aekins said prisoner had left camp without breakfast, and had broken into a shop to get cake. The bad feature of the case was that he also took some money. Ho had never been in trouble before. His Honor said that a Judge had a very strong dislike of sending to gaol or Borstal a youth of previous good character who had made only one lapse. Oil tho other hand ; as lie thought there was an epidemic of this kind of thing among young men, the awkward position rose that tho Judge might have to sacrifice the individual to the need of impressing on all young men that they must not be dishonesty However, he thought there were sufficient exceptional features in this case to warrant granting probation. The fact that prisoner could not resist the till showed a nasty dishonest streak. He was admitted to probation for two years and ordered to make restitution of £lO by weekly instalments of 10s from his army pay. A request for the suppression of his name was refused..