OUR TERRITORIALS.

Patea Mail, Volume XXXIX, 24 June 1914, Page 3

OUR TERRITORIALS.

Material Second to None in the World. 1 j Sir lan Hamilton's Report. ) a ■ i General Sir lan Hamilton has presented his report of his inspection . of New Zealand forces. Summing up i the position, he said, " The army of ■ to- day puts its best into its work. It i is well equipped and well armed. The humau material is second to none in the world and it suffers as a fighting machine only from want of field work and want of an ingrained habit of discipline. The first of these can never j under the conditions of a citizen army be quite made good, except by dint of war, or by a period of embodiment made under stress of imminent perii. [ The second can and will be made good. Well»trained recruits will come on, especially when captains are made entirely responsible for the instruction of their own trained men." Discipline and Patriotism Discipline, the main force of armies, is closely allied to organisation. Suoh a sense of cohesion, and of being under as wise management as good organisation can give, amounts in itself ) to a sort of discipline. Up to this I point the forces of New Zealand are disciplined. Further, there is a common wish running through all

ranks—a wish to do well. Where every one wishes to do the same thing there is no strain on discipline. In this negative sense also, the foices of

New Zealand are disciplined, but the real test of discipline comes when men are ordered to do something hard and disagreeable, something which appears to them unnecessary or mistaken. To put it plainly a deep moral chasm intervenes between a tea

mile march on a Hoe day and a twenty five miles march on a dark rainy night | on an empty stomach' Let us got the thorough hafit of discipline on top of the glowing New Zealand patriotism, and no one in this world could wi'h for more.

Local Camps Suggested. ' •* On the subject of unit concentra. tioi in the country, afior carefully inspecting the many country corps, I am quite certain that one thing the men require above all others ia to bo brought into closer touch with their "own officers and noo-comraisaioued officers. Casual drilling by a

peripatetic instructor can never compensate fur this pergonal touch between officers and men which in the citizen force can ouiy be established during the period of company and squadron training. Here again, a clear line of

demarcation can be drawn. " Wherever a squadron or company can without undue hardship be collected to drill and exerche as a unit under its own officers, there the existing system of home training is perfectly sound. Otherwise it would un - questionably be a preferable substitute for home training, concentrated squad - ron or company training of at least a week's duration, to be held at some convenient place and time prior to the assembly of the battalion or regiment for the statutory annual training. Squadron or company 'concon* tration should be arranged locally by the equadron and company commander. The less the higher authorities interfere the better; They

should not cost much. Rations aud forage only wou'd have to be provided by the Govemmsnt. Pay would be unnecessary, in that the men would only be carrying out the obligation which their comrades in town fulfil without payment in many instances. Oamp equipment would be unnecessary as accommodation in barns, ehearing sheds, or even billets, could doubtl- a i ' be arranged for locally-" General Hamilton declares that he * is advocating nothing startling or

miraculous. Now Zealand is not c advised to travel to distant Abana and i Pharpar, but only to give its own e familiar Jordan a fair trial. For thr< e f years past* the principles and methods I

now rec mmended have been recog« Jj nised more or less, and have been more or less applied. \ £ N Z, Mounted Rifles. 3 To the N.Z. Mounted Rifles, Sir lan $ Hamilton in bis report gives unstinted < praise, remarking that New Zealand is { fortunate in being able to muster at a 1 very moderate expense such a fine body of i horsemen. ' " The higher commands are in capable ( hands, the instructors are able, and all t

ranks are animated with a keenness and initiative that deserves high praise. The result is reflected in the field-work in which I have inspected them. The squadrons move at a good pace, and come into action quickly ; and they possess in a wonderful degree (considering the want of practice) that cohesion without which it is impossible to handle

any considerable force of horsemen. ’’ General Hamerton speaks well also of the quality and condition of the horses and the nerve of thdr riders, instancing, amongst others, an occasion on which the scouts of a brigade “ popped out over a five-atrand wire fenoe as if it had been a two foot drain.” A large prrportion of the saddles are not suitable for military work, and ultimately the provision of regulation saddles will have to be faced. After some further detail criticisms and commendations of the mounted rifles, General Hamilton remarks: —“Finally, I can only say I have served in war already with Now Zralmd Mounted Rifles, and I should esteem myself lucky indeed if ever I had the good fortune to encounter Continental cavalry in reasonably broken ground with them at mj right hand.”