AUSTRALIAN OFFICERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17158, 10 November 1917, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN OFFICERS

AMONG BIST IN THE WORLD. MUST NOT GO OUT. Thero has come to the surface in this war a certain number of Australian officers who would ranlc amongst the best in any army in the world, writes Captain O. E. W. Bean, Australian Press Representative with the Commonwealth Forces. Any army in the world would bo glad to have them. They have been trained in such a school as was never known before nor will bo afterwards-—from these three years of this searching, methodical, modern business of war. Australians bring peculiarly fresh and vigorous brains to it. In some cases these more than made up for their rawness in experience. And tho result is a very good officer indeed. MEN WHO WOULD RTSE. In the armies of the British Empire there is a big field for these men. In the British Army or the Indian Army some of_ them would stand a pood chance of coming to the top where the top is high enough to bo the natural goal of any man's ambition. The British authorities have been generous to Australians and men from other dominions in this war. In entry to some of the British war (services it has been an advantage rather than a disadvantage to come from ono of the outer nations of tho Bmpiro. There is a genuine warmth of feeling behind this nttiHirfc. Tt has not been ir.ainlv based on self-intorest.

There is a strong current of opinion in Great Britain which would like to seo big Imperial services outside Australia in epito of the fact that they would be in competition with the sons of Englishmen and others with whom those services are at present mainly filled. There is. something sincerely generous in this desire. _ At the same time ono has no hesitation m saying that it is not in the interests of Australia that it should be MfiHed. It is not in her interests that the biVfrest prizes for Australians should be outsid? Australian service. And in the present of Int grnwth, with lior immense problems'of development in front of her, it is with tho greatest concern that far-seeing Australians would seo an pxorhis of her best brains artfl enertry evsn into the services of other parts of the Empire. Tho searching, bitter, rnthlrtss tests of war have brought brains and enersry to the surface in a way qnifctv unknown.in. peace. That is one of the few imnortant incidental advantages that Australia can get from the war, apart from the one pfreafc main purno/wi of the war itself. The need of ArstmTia after thp w-ir will certainly be for all the men of ability and pntfrnrisc and tried character that eho can obtain; she will need to bring them in —not lpt thVm po out. OFFICERS FOR FLTTING CORPS. The policy of Australia has been clear and unquestionably very wise. It has been openly and defiantly laid down that it is against Australian policy for Australians to go from the Australian Imperial Force into the Imperial service. There was a, time when Australians wounded from Gallipoli were being taken in as officers of the new army in England in considerable numbers. The committee of the Royal Colonial Institute busied itself especially in helping this work, with the simple wish of helping our countrymen. It may have been helping our countrymen, unwittingly. It was not helping our country. The Australian Government, at the risk of seeming ungracious, put an end to these transfers. At a later date there came a very special request from the Brijnsh Government for the relaxation of this rule in the case of officers for the Royal Flying Corps. The Australian Imperial Forces, like every other party of tho forces of the British nations, is undnr.a heavy debt to the Flyang Corps, and the' work is so important, and the British authorities have been so ready to help the Australian Force in a thousand other matters, that the Australian Government was unquestionably wise to relax its rule. In fairness they., too, were bound to make a concession, as tho men were needed for our common struggle. The only question is perhaps whether might not have been made in regard to tho '200 eager, Ireh-spiritec! young Australians who wern finally picked to go mto training to qualify for traijsfer into the British Flyine Corps, even at tho cost of paying for them and retaining, them as members of the. A.I.F. It' is uncertain to what extent they will return to Australia, and their dforls will bo hard to identify as those of Australians in the history of their country. KEEPING THE BRAINS IN THE , SERVICE.

A certain tiumber d£ Australians—a very few, I believe—liavo been allowed to enter the Indian army.. It probably cannot be eaid that the exodus has 60 far gone beyond the bounds of what was right and necessary in fair dealing with the British, who have undoubtedly dealt well and fairly by us. But it is advisable and urgent that there should bo,'if possible, prizes and attractions for brains in the service of Australia as well as outside of it, and that ■wo should make it our settled policy to keep for Australia whatever of ability and character the service in our force has brought to the top. And it is advisable, that it should be done now, while tfie possibility for selecting the best still remains perfectly easy, and whilst the common knowledge of the force marks out at least somo scores of youngsters for obvious distinction. Those for whose brains Australia can find no military use are equally valuable for other callings. Most of them ■want nothing better than to return to Australia But whether they wish it or whether they do not, it is against our interest to let them go.