TERRITORIAL SYSTEM.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 30, Issue 23, 22 March 1918, Page 8

TERRITORIAL SYSTEM.

STATEMENT BY MINISTER OP DEFENCE. The possibility of a change in the present Territorial system, which has already been foreshadowed to some extent, was further mentioned by Sir James Allen, Minister of Defence to an Auckland Star reporter. The Minister stated that any new policy which might be brought into existence after the war was over would have to be discussed by Cabinet, but any man at all observant could see the lines upon which it must develop. It was perfectly plain that with a good stall of instructors, and the kind of material that we had to work on in New Zealand, it was possible to produce fairly well disciplined and trained soldiers in anything from three to four months. We were doing it now in four months, but if the leave to the men were cut out, as it probably would be under a system of that kind, it might be possible to do it in three months. The men, of course, could not reach the fullest extent of their training in this time, but they would at least be fairly well trained, and the main part of their work would be done. They would be instructed in hygiene and matters generally appertaining to their health, physical drill, discipline, and the ability to move. This would form a largo part of the wort, and if it could be grafted on to tho Territorial system he thought it should be done. Wo would then get a citizen army which would be in a position to respond to a call whenever it was necessary, and if this training were continued by a week or ten days in camp each year we would always have at hand a body of men who could be turned into a fighting unit at a very short notice. If the men were taken, say, at eighteen years, and for three months placed in wellestablished camps with a Highly trained staff of instructors, we would not only produce tho basis of a well-irained soldier, but a very much more efficient citizen, and it was important that we should look at it also from the point of view of producing efficient citizens. Medical and dental treatment would be provided in the camps, because if we were desirous of producing an efficient population we must make the men as medically and dentally fit as it was possible to make them. In reply to a query as to whether this system that had been outlined would do away with the weekly drills at night, tho Minister stated that undoubtedly it would.