THE DEFENCE FORCES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2914, 19 January 1910, Page 14

THE DEFENCE FORCES.

By Sentry.

Pending the acceptance of the resignation of Lieutenant-colonel cle Lautour, Lieutenant-colonel Will, V.D., will acu as principal medical officer of the Otago. district. . The Officer Commanding the District will inspect corps as follows Wakatipu Mounted Rifles January 20, Mataura Mounted Rifles January 24, Mnrihiku and Kelso Mounted Rifles January 26. R. J. King is the holder of both the North Island and Wellington rifle championships, having won both within a week. The holidays over, the Highland Rifles and Dunedin City Guards held parades last week. Both are working up with a view to the battalion competitions shortly to be carried out. Captain Douglas, who has on the roll 72 members, hopes to secure capitation for every one, intended to equip the men with tools, and march to the reclaimed land behind the station to practise entrenchments. The state of the weather, however, prevented this, and instead the Officer Commanding gave a lecture on entrenchments, making free use of the blackboard. The competitions carried out in connection with the City Guards have this year proved keener than in previous years, and all the sections are fairly close together. The tests that remain to be completed during the next month are : Tactical work in the field by half-com-pany commanders, signalling competition by sections, and written examination for non-commissioned officers.

Inquiry amongst local officers as to the probability or otherwise of officers and , men of the present volunteer force reenlisting in the Territorial force elicited in almost every case the reply that it was difficult -to say much on the point until the publication of the regulations giving precise and definite information as to what the change will involve. One I'aetor that is regarded by some as fatal to the > new organisation is the period of continuous training required. Not that the officers and men are unwilling to devote the time necessary for such useful purpose, but that they can afford neither the time nor the loss of income involved, whilst there is always the feeling that under such conditions members of the Territorial force would be prejudiced in a matter of securing and retaining employment. The proposal that half the Saturday afternoons during the year should be devoted to training will also undoubtedly prove a deterrent. One officer stated emphatically- that men simply would not enlist under such conditions. Beyond question, tho working out of the new problem is a most unenviable task, and those upon whom the burden has fallen are deserving of all sympathy and every charitable thought. At present the Volunteer force, exclusive of cadets and members of ride clubs, totals roughly say 12,000 men. The work required of these is always increasing, and is at present as much as—and in some cases more than—officers and men can reasonably accomplish. The system is declared to have failed. It is now proposed to reorganise on a basis of harder work without increasing the inducement to. join. Is it likely that in these circumstances an increased strength, totalling 15,000 (peace strength), or 20,000 (war strength), will be easily secured. Of course there is the General Training Section to be compulsorily drawn upon to swell the ranks of the Territorials. But these will be at best partly-trained youths. In the Garrison and Field Artillery and the Engineers, for example, it takes a man years of steady training before he is of much value, and of what use in these branches of the service would be the untrained youth putting in his training merely on sufl ei’ance and without interest, merelv waiting until the attainment of his twenty-first birthday so that Be may get right out of the forces. It mav readily be imagined that should any of the present companies of artillery, or • engineers, not re-enlist in the Territorials a very serious difficulty will be created, ■Jl'or they could not be adequately replaced in less than three or four years. SfThen there will be the difficulty of ob- ‘ taining officers ’ and non-commissioned •’officers, and the difficulty a Territorial officer will experience in handling a ■'mixed company wof voluntary and pressed servants. These are but a few of the ’(difficulties to be grappled with, and they ‘‘are mentioned not with a view to pourfang cold water, but rather to emphasise qfche responsibilities resting upon those with the work of preparing derails of the scheme. It is not to be however, that at the inception iof every reform obstacles that seemed *well nigh insurmountable have loomed rlblack and threatening. Battery opened after the holidays r Ith a good ESUster at parade on Wednesday evening.-. Arrangements for the Minimal traieSfg. which commences at ptaJhiina Pari a Saturday, c2M, are well

forward, and a successful camp is looked forward to. On Saturday, 29th, mid-way through the camping period, it is proposed to have an innovation for the Battery in the shape of a little sports meeting. The sports will have a practical relation to the training, for they will include competitions in sub-section alarm, tent-pitching, driving, signalling, gunlaying, etc. Major Ritchie is of opinion that if the conditions laid dowh are such as they can reasonably fulfil, all the officers and most of the men of the Battery will he willing to enlist in the Territorials. The case of ex-Captaiu Knyvett ■ has naturally been a topic of discussion amongst local Volunteers. There is a general feeling here that the whole of the circumstances have not been revealed. That Mr Knyvett has a legitimate grievance is generally admitted, hut the consensus of opinion amongst local officers is that he went the wrong way about obtaining redress, the terms in which his letter was written being altogether indiscreet. Possibly the political backing that Mr Knyvett relied upon encouraged him to write in such plain terms, for it is known that before he left Wellington after that eventful trip he conferred with a number of northern members of Parliament and was assured that they were in sympathy with him. An interesting point in connection with the matter is the position the members of Mr Knyvett’s. late command are placed in by their decision not to parade until an inquiry has been held. This is tantamount to mutiny, for their evident intention is to disobey any orders that may he issued to them. ' What action will the department take with regard to them? The proposed meeting of officers of the district would certanily have been a breach of discipline. It is plainly laid down in regulations that “ Meetings of members of the Defence Forces are not to he held for, the purpose of expressing an opinion upon the acts of the Defeihe Department or of a superior officer, or recommending any particular course of action. Nor are memorials to he drawn up to the same effect.” Had the rather absurd public inquiry not been held the drastic punishment meted out to Captain Knyvett would not have created such remark. But inasmuch 1 as Mr Knyvettscored all the way at the inquiry," the subsequent punishment appears altogether illogical. Obviously the matter cannot remain where it is at present, and there is the possibility of a startling denouement.

| At the Auckland Rifle Association's prize firing the time limit was enforced, and representative shooting men agreed that it had worked satisfactorilv. expeditin'* the firing. Rifleman Speck's : opinion, however, was that it was due to the smartness of the markers rather than to the imposing of the time limit j that the meeting was to go through in such good time. Unless the markers were parI ticuiarly efficient, he said, time limits were impossible to fix. The interest taken in their work by the members of the Garrison Artillery is evidenced in the extent to which the men | enter for examinations. -Each man may qualify for personal payments by passing examinations in two subjects/ N—-?/ all the Dunedin Navals have earned the two payments this year, whilst a number have passed in a third subject, for which no personal payment is made. The sum of £lB5 is being distributed in personal payments, representing £lO3 for passes in gunnery, £lO for signalling, £2O for engine-driving and electric lighting. £l7 for range-finding, and £39 for gun-laying. The Otago Hussars hold a daylight parade on Saturday next. tint of a roll of 53. Xo. 2 Field Ambulance has a muster of 49 in bar--1 racks for the annual training, and sub- , stantial reasons for the absence of the ' four are available. The work in con nee- . lion with this most vaTaable branch of the service is being caried out with characteristic zeal under the direction of Captains Ritchie and Moor'® The medical section of the Officers’ Training Corps went into barrack? alongside the Field Ambulance to receive in- ! struction in medical work. Lieutenantcolonel Will was in camp with t lie section as instructor, and for the purposes j of the camp two acting officers, Lieu- | tenant? O'Callaglian and. Fenwick, were i provisionally appointed. A total of 27 i members took part in the camp, parading ; in the early morning, the afternoon, and the evening. Lieutenant-colonel Will was pleased with the work done, the members of the crops shaping exceedingly well. The Dunedin Highland Rifles are naturally proud of the fact that they have provided the winner of the Otago Rifle At'Ociation’s championship this year, the more so as this is the third occasion upon ' which the honour has been associated with | the company. In addition to Corporal F. ’ W. Mack-ay’s success this year the charn--1 pionship was won by Private W. Mackay three or four years ago, and by the present commanding officer, then Lieutenant Dempster, much fuatjs§£ back.

The Queensland camp was an instruc- j tive one in many ways. The troops i assembled there came from every district | of the State, excepting the far east and . far north. They were from Maryborough and Bundaberg and Rockhampton in the north, from Dal by and Roma, from western Darling Downs, from as far south as Stanthorpe, and yet, owing to the inconvenient date, the attendance was poor. ( Out of 3200 on the establishment it was estimated on December 21, 1909, that there would be 2888 in camp. The actual attendance was not far short of 1000 less. 1 That means that nearly half the entire • force must be inefficient for the current ( year, inasmuch an the emergency parades, | which will be held later, cannot compen- j sate for continuous training. There were j certainly between 200 and 300 men at j Townsville and Thursday Island. Lord j Kitchener saw the 1800 men who entered ! upon the training at Lytton, but many j of them were unable to come into camp ' until the Saturday night, and many had I to go out again on Monday evening. Yet j this was a mobilisation of the defence force of a State in which the eight days - j training is not an innovation, says a Syd- ■ ney paper. The knowledge that a special scheme was to be issued soon spread round camp i on Sunday evening, but beyond making preliminary arrangements for the issue of rations to be carried by the men in j their nothing could be done j until the Field-Marshal's wishes were | made known, and the anticipation of an 1 early alarm was an effective bar to sub- < stantial rest. Only a few, indeed, of those ; in responsible positions attempted to go to bed. The commandant and his staff ■ were anxiously thinking out every pos- ) sible form of attack or defence that they ( might possibly be called upon to evolve, ! and it was certainly a relief when the 1 messenger at last arrived with the instruc- j tions and the problem was found' to be j so comparatively simple as it was. It was ; then midnight, and Colonel Syster at once 1 called a conference of his brigade bat- f talion commanders and issued march I orders under which the division was to be 1 roused at 2 a.m. and 1 to march at 3 a.m. j But Lord Kitchener either did not want 1 to set a difficult task, or else had no j information of previous schemes for the defence of Lytton and Brisbane. All .the old hands who have fought the battle of Brisbane in its southern defences knew every inch of the excellent road, and every tree and shady nook in the coast (scrub which covers the ground round about Capaiaha and TingaJpa Creek, and . they settled down to the task like veterans j fighting a second battle on a familiar battle ground. Public interest in the visit of Lord Kitchener was shown' by the numbers of people at vantage points in the vicinity of the Brisbane and one country platforms. The train sped through, but Lord Kitchener does not like crowds, and kept himself out of sight. In fact, directly he had had breakfast he shut himself up in an inner compartment of the State callage, and settled down to work w ith Colonel Kirkpatrick. He had consented to submit himself to a hasty reception at Toowoomba and at Warwick, and it was arranged that the train should stop at each of these places for about 25 minutes. At Toowoomba there was a crowd of men, women, and children on the platform, and they all packed round the carriage so closely that the Field-Marshal seemed to hesitate whether he would even get out on to the platform. When he did alight he was at once surrounded, and a couple of constables who stood in the middle of the people did not make any effort to keep them back. It was lionising in its worst form, and resulted in Lord Kitchener thanking the Mayor for his cordial welcome in a.s many wards, inspecting, a very small, but very smart, squad of senior Cadets, and then ordering his train to move on. though it was quite 10 minutes in advance of schedule time.