THE TERRITORIALS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 129, 24 July 1911, Page 3

THE TERRITORIALS.

the supply of houses. STUD FARMS ADVOCATED. The Following specially written article is excerpted from the Wellington ‘‘Post” : Under the Territorial scheme mounted lilies form no inconsiderable part of 'New Zealand’s citizen army. At

present the qualification for recruits who want to join the mounted, branch

is the possession of a horse and the willingness to use it during the annual encampment. This scheme of getting every mounted man to provide Lis own horse may answer for a time, hut it is a weak reed for the country

to depend upon, and steps should ho taken to ensure' that in the future an adequate supply of light horses he provided likely to meet any emergency.

The mounted rifles arc to ho the cavalry of the army; they are to perform all the duties which fall to the lot of cavalry in the hold, with the important exception of shock tactics. They will not, therefore, require to he trained to such a high pitch of efficiency as cavalry pure and simple, but they will have to attain a higher efficiency than is expected of mounted infantry. They will he called upon bo perform all the manoeuvres of cavalry at a slower pace, and will have to ho practised in marching at a walk

and trot, in line and in column ; they will be required to perform such movements as forming line from column, and vice versa, with smoothness and accuracy. When ordered to advance, seize and hold forward positions they will necessarily have to move for considerable distances as forward bodies, and in the case raids against lines of communication, convoys, or detached posts many miles have to be covered. Now. in all mounted drill the horse is nearly as important as the man. If lire horses are all of the same stamp and well broken, half the difficulty of manoeuvre disappears; but when partially trained men are mounted upon untrained horses of all sizes, shapes and condition, then indeed the task before the squadron and regimental leaders becomes colossal. Under the present system of every nr air providing his own imrse it is hopeless to expect to obtain any uniformity in size and brbedurg amongst tiro troop horsfcs: one men wTI be mounted on a thoroglrbrcl, aunt her on an animal displaying unmistakable evidences of cart origin, a third will ride a polo pony, while a fourth will appear astride a raw-boned six-teen-hand coach horse. How will it Ire possible to obtain any uni fo; nary in movement in a squadron mounted on animals so widely differing in tape, in siz'e, and in length ‘of stride?

It' is} of course, out of the r- estioup ahd could not be expo ‘ed that horses should be trained to the same pitch as a cavalry horse has attained after ho |;asj' left the school, oux at lest a'i effort should be made to mount the squadrons on horses of thol siiißp size and typo. How is this to be done? Only by the tiovermnent taking in hand a scheme for the breeding of light horses. ’year by year, fewer and fewer of the stamp of horse likely to make good mounted rifle remounts arc being bred by private individuals, for various reasons, the most important being that, owing to the great increase in mechanical traction, the demand for such horses is becoming loss and less, and a market lor them more and,more difficult to obtain. If the Government wore to undertake the breeding of light horses suitable for the purposes of then mounted troops and the right lines were adopted, even allowing for a g;od proportion of casualities and misfits, suitable horses ought not to cost more than £lO a four years old. These horses could be lured out to members of the mounted branch for £2 per annum, subject, of course,

to periodical inspection and appearance at drills, and the annual training camp. Most young men living in the country would be pleased to get a horse on such terms, and in course of time the remount breeding establishments would become self-supporting institutions. Such a scheme would, of course, have a bad effect on the light horse industry, but, as has been remarked above, 'that Industry is in such a feeble condition that it may be doubted if hi any persons would be affected. The South African war showed of what importance a proper supply of light horses becomes in war. England was short of horses; she had to go all over tbe world to obtain them, and millions were wasted over the purchase and transport of indifferent horses . A great part of that money could have been saved bad a proper system of stud farms, such as are found .in all the great Continental nations, been in existence. in tins article only tlie requirements of the mounted rifles have been touched upon, but artillery requires horses, both

draught and riding; engineers and transport corps require horses; and every different branch of tbe service requires horses suitable to the work they have to perform. In a force ot all arms the supply of horses, is only second in importance to the supply of men, and during war time tbe wastage, which is very considerable, requires to be continually made- up for. The Ihitish Government has failed to profit by the lessons it received in the opening years of the century. II war broke out to-morrow the same ‘wasteful methods would oorforce have to be resorted to to obtain remounts, is New Zealand going to allow herself to fall into the same pitiable condition P