AN ARMY OFFICER'S PAY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10760, 6 May 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

AN ARMY OFFICER'S PAY.

Recently Mr Haldatte said in the House of Commons: ."The pay of the officer is not what it ought to be in these .days'. . . Sooner or later we shall have to face this question and see what should be done." Mr Haldane's devices for securing a supply of Army officera ought to open the eyes of the public to a serious defect ill our military organisation. The decrease in the number of candidates • for commissions has been going on steadily ever since the Boer war, and . has reached its climax in the last two years, wlieu at' several examinations there have been fewer candidates than vacancies, at any -T.a.te for Sandhurst and through the Special Reserve. Fourteen or fifteen years ago the competition was very keen. In 1896, .when I passed into Sandhurst, there were 800 • candidates for 120 vacancies. Among the causes ,of the decrease arc the growing luxury of the upper and middle classes, mud thrown at British officers after the Boer war, the uncertainty of the officer's future, the ; changes in Army organisation and reductions ill establishments, the great increase in the work of officers, and, most important of all, the inadequate pay. There can be no doubt .that'the-want of a "living wage" is. mainly responsible for the alarming decrease in the supply of officers. In former days officers were drawn mainly from the leisured and money classes. They joined the Army, often for reasons that may appear' not altogether professional —to see the world, to wear a handsome uniform, to enjoy social position, to spend a pleasant and an easy life among genial companions, to have plenty of leave and unlimited opportunities for sport. Certainly, they were not expected to overwork themselves. Some, indeed, mostly sons of officers, joined the Army because they were ambitious and fond of soldiering. Others, after a few years of indolent enjoyment, came under the influence of enthusiasts, who wero .regarded as harmless lunatics, and developed into keen soldiers. But in those days there was no incentive to work at one's profession, cither at Sandhurst —Woolwich was more encouraging and exigent—or on joining the regiment. .

The course at Sandhurst between the years 1890 and 1900 was thoroughly bad. The instructors were usually of two classes—cranks who could not get on in their regiments and were either "ragged" or hated by the cadets, and athletes who had no ideas beyond football, cricket, and the like. Life in a regiment was devoted to sport, cards, betting, drinking, and other "manly virtues," while professional keenness was looked upon as "jolly bad form," or at'best as a ridiculous eccentricity. All these things have changed. In the last, six or seven years a wonderful transformation has been effected. The Army no longer plays at soldering. Many reforms are still needed, but we are on .the right road, and our sinall Army will soon be a match for any equal number of trooxjs, even though they. are drawn by conscription from the best of foreign nations, whereas we still rely on hunger and unemployment to fill our ranks.

The course at Sandhurst is very different now from the course of fifteen years ago. True, it lasts only one year, which is a serious defect arid ought to be remedied, but it is thoroughly practical and the officer-instructors are keen and ;capable, as linlike those of the. end of last century as are German officers compared with Haytians. In these strenuous days the Army is no place for moneyed idlers. It is a serious and ail exacting profession. Every man has to work hard and during long hours. If he cannot or will not take ;his"'full share of work the of.ficer must go. No good regiment will tolerate a loafer, and very few British regiments are not' good nowadays. A new spirit has come over the Army. Our corps of officers is a serious body of professional soldiers. With proper eiP couragement it ; will in a few years bo second to none in the world, and not inferior even. to - the magnjficeiit Offiziers Korps' of the German"Army. But the officers must be encouraged arid assisted. There would be no lack of candidates for commissions if the prospects" were better. Serious men . who; devtito their lives to the most strenuous and most noble of air professions'are surely not unreasonable if they: expect at least a living wage. This our "officers do. not receive. All that they demand is a "living wage." , Moire than tliat they db not desire, for we do riot want soldiers who are soldiers only for hire and the prospects of a good incortie. Our "officers must bo ' 'gentlemen" in the true sense of the word, and the class riiust remain as high as it lias been, even though it may, and ought- to, consist chiefly of tho poorer members of this class.

.Tliere must be an increase in the pay of officers. What form, then, should the increase take? A- scale of pay graduated according to. length of service is the only system -by which fairness can be secured. In France, Germany, and ; other countries the .pay of officers has recently been increased. In nearly all Armies officers are,paid on a graduated scale. This has been recognised as : the only fair system,. even where Army as distinct from regimental promotion exists,' and where, the promotion of officers is consequently more or less le\;el throughout tlie-Various branches, of the service.

In the British Army, which still adheres tenaciously ' to the antiquated system, of regimental promotions, there are absurd anomalies. For example, :the senior, captain in one regiment may have twentv-two years' service or more, while the junior majors in other regiments may have only thirteen or fourteen years' service or even less. This state of things renders the introduction of a graduated scale of pay : even more ■mecessary. in . our .Arms' than in the great Continental Armies.