DEFENCE FORCES

Otago Witness, Issue 3555, 2 May 1922, Page 46

DEFENCE FORCES

PROVISIONS FOR EFFICIENCY. CHRISTCHURCH, April 27. An interesting statement as to his intentions in regard to maintaining the efficiency of the Defence staff so far as recent retrenchments will permit him, was made by the Minister of Defence (the Hon. Sir Heaton Rhodes) when laying the foundation stone of the Green Park Memorial Hall to-day. The retrenching in the staff had previously been referred to by Mr R. Macartney, who expressed the opinion that every young New Zealander should be so trained in arms as to be ready whenever the call came.

Sir Heaton Rhodes said that Mr Macartney’s ideal was a very proper one. The task of reducing the forces had been a necessary one. Other Ministers had had to dispense with the services of part of their staffs, but his own task had been all the harder for him, as he had to dispense with men who had served loyally and well, not only in New Zealand, but also overseas. However, the necessity for economy had made the step imperative. There had been a demand from Parliament and from the country for retrenchment; in fact, a certain section of the community wanted no Defence F oree at all • but he was determined that that position should not arise. The department’s object now was to keep an efficient well-trained staff of officers and n.c.o. s. Such a trained staff they were determined to keep, as it had been shown that in war a force could be trained in a comparatively short time, but it was not so as far as officers and n.0.0.’s were concerned, and the smaller the staff that was retained the higher trained they must' be. J hat principle would give an efficient skeleton force about which a larger force could comparatively quickly be built as occasion demanded.