THE DEFENCE REPORT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13995, 30 August 1907, Page 4

THE DEFENCE REPORT.

"Should the Volunteer Force not be maintained or brought up to an efficient state Volunteering lias had its lastchance. If the general public is in earnest as to defence it must itself assist and ensure that under the Volunteer system sufficient enlistment is made, and that once men are enlisted they attend regularly. The alternative is a system of universal or compulsory training whereby the burden of service in the Defence Forces will be more evenly distributed." This pronouncement is really the mest arresting statement in tho recent report eaianatin" from the New Zealand Defence, Council,

which'began'its duties in January last. It is well, however, to bear in mind that the is only a, sort of preliminary document setting forth tho duties of the Council and the policy or lines upon .which it is proposed to obtain better efficiency and readiness for defence. In the policy agreed upon by the Council, an indication of which precedes the warning quoted above, thero is nothing yery new or surprising. What there is finds embodiment in tho decision that for the present tho policy of defence should continue purely voluntary; that regulations should be made and amended to encourage further enlistment! and obtain efficiency; that provision should bo mad© for tho forma.tion of reserves, for more decentralisation with increased powers for district commanders; and, generally, that an endeavour should bo mado to populariso tho Volunteer Foreo in the eyes of the public. -For the rest, in this report facts in connection with our Befeuce Forces are set but with a. certain dry exactitude that is left to convey its own impression. It is no impression of high efficiency, but there has never been any serious contention, as far as wo are. aware, that the Volunteers of New Zealand constitute a strikingly effective defensive organisation, and in tins very circumstance has been found the main raison d'etre of a Defence Council.- The tatter's suggestions that a, defined policy as regards equipment is desirable and that a reserve of rifles should be obtained to bring the number in the colony up to fifty thousand aro typical of many ■that throw light on present deficiencies in the equipment, organisation, and training of our Volunteer Forces. Stress is laid on tho necessity for a matter neglected in the past—to wit, a sound mobilisation systom. But wo need not go into the details of tho process by which it is proposed to increase the efficiency of' tho Defence Forces of the colony, for theso have been previously given somo prominence and embody no very startling innovations. The amount expended oa defence services last year out of the Consolidated Fund was £152,700, and the Council estimates that an increase of £31,000 on this amount .will be necessary this year. Emphasis has often been laid ou the value of tie practical instruction received by Volunteers in the fieldj but nothing could be uiucb more striking as indicating just what measure of popularity the Easter manoeuvres have among our Volunteers than tho fact tha.t for" somo years past just 25 per cent, af their strength has been represented on sucb occasions. The point is not made exactly clear, but the inference is thp,t three Volunteers out of every four have neglected their opportunities in this connection. Among Australian Volunteers the proportion present at Easter manoeuvres is, it seems, very much better. The New Zealand Defence Council is an agent of reform. Whether or not its establishment will be productive of marked changes of a beneficial kind in the conduct of defence matters in the colony remains to be seen, and time will make that point clear. From the Council's report little can be judged beyond that an earnest effort in the desired direction will be made along lines which can hardly fail to lead to greater efficiency in military education and preparedness, although perhaps stopping considerably short of the ideal which reformers of our defence system have before them. That the. efforts of the Defence Council may. be entirely successful should be the devout wish of all, for in that result and in the stimulation of a more patriotic and public-spirited attitude on the part of the people of the colony towards Volunteering rests whatever hope' is of. laying the unpleasant spectre of compulsory service in soine shape or form, which has been a good deal hea.nl of lately and with which the Defence»Council does not hesitate to threaten the colony. The hitherto indifferently successful efforts made to popularise Volunteering in New Zealand suggest the hopelessness of the task of endeavouring to convert to a different spirit a generation which only acts in accordance with its upbringing. Everything points to the fact that it is to the general inculcation of some degree of the military spirit as a duty among the rising generation that we must look for an alteration and betterment in the attitude of the general public towards the Volunteer movement.