The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1918. COSTLY DEFENCE BLUNDERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 March 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1918. COSTLY DEFENCE BLUNDERS.

"My one object," said tbe British Premier on Monday in the House of Commons," is to secure the men best qualified to do the work efficiently. ■Had that most commendable principlo animated the Government of New Zealand there would 'have been no necessity for the 'Defence Inquiry Commission, and the country would have been saved many thousands of pounds, besides much resentment on the part of the taxpayers. Mr. Lloyd George called to the aid of the Government the highest and best brain power of the country in order to have tiie benefit of the ac'.v>c and assistance of the foremost civilians of the day—mer. of business, science, organising power, initiative and purposefulness. The colossal war expenditure and the intricate problems connected with naval, military and industrial matters demanded special treatment, organisation, economy, and above all efficiency. That was why Mr. Lloyd George endeavored to secure the men best qualified to do the work efficiently. AH departmental traditions and red tape were swept aside so that the gigantic task of the conduct of the war might be the first consideration What a woeful contrast is that afforded by the Dominion Executive, and especially by the Defence Department, which is teeming with incompetents. "Hands oil' my officers'' has been the Defenca Minister's slogan, and the lesser lights have taken their cue from Sir James Allen. It has been clearly manifest that tho whole system of the Defence Department has grown up in a most unaccountable manner, but how and why the various positions have been filled by men, possessing no special training for administration 011 sound business lines, is matter for conjecture. It has all the faults—and more—and none of tho redeeming points of the old time British red tapo system. Civilian assistance is resented, and every position must be filled by a person having military rank (and pay), either commissioned or non-com. Even the dentists, attending to cases 111 the camps, instead of being attached are to be incorporated with the forces, with officer's rank and pay. The public are long suffering, but the heavily burdened taxpayer has good cause for complaint at the shocking waste that such a chaotic administration must necessarily entail. There tan be no two opinions that the appoinfment of the Defence Inquiry Commission—long overdue—has been amply justified. The revelations of waste of money, waste of time, waste of patience and waste of efficiency, form a scathing indictment against the manner in which [tiie affairs of the departments have been administered. Apparently the Stores Department is particularly impregnated with a system of red tape that is almost Gilbcrtian. To illustrate this it is only necessary to mention the case of a requisition for eleven mops, tho requisition being returned because only nine were allowed, so instead of sending the nine the orderlies had to go without juops until a further requisition wag ,

iscnt in, considered ami attended to. Slijipors of different sizes were wanted at a hospital /or patients when they arrived, hut the officer was called upon to state tiie exact number of each size required, and as the patients were prospective tliis was impossible. Clothes pegs for the laundry could not hi: supplied because they were not i,i.-hided in n.uy schedule, so the kindly offices of the lied Cross had to be enlisted, and yet this absurd .system was upheld by a. military officer. Patients had to use unfiltered water because carbons for filters were not 011, the list. The regulations are inexorable in their rigidity, as well as being complicated, and as the men who have 1,0 earrv (hem out arc

continually being changed jit is next to impossible fsr these regulations to he learned. A sensible latitude would avoid all these absurd i- j,. while still providing for a satisfactory check on stores. The instances cited are merely what may he termed the coitjedy of rid tape and sealing wax, but those who have followed the evidence given before the Commission, view the question of waste as a serious matter. The utmost care is taken over the issue x of one or more mops than tile regulations permit, but thousands of pounds have been wasted for the want of common sense, forethought and business ability—straining at the. gnat and swillowing the camel It is not only the Defence Department that, is at fault, for Cabinet as a whole is equally to blame. The Motuihi Inquiries and court-nmrtials are glaring instances in point. Instead of utilising the services of a Supreme Court Judge, conversed with the expert business of sifting evidence, a number of highly paid officers, with corresponding travelling and other allowances vrcre employed, two tribunals goinjr over the same ground at very great expense. Of course, from a military point of viewsuch a course would have been unthinkable, but from every other viewpoint it would have been sound and effective. The present manner of conducting the Defence Department may 'be satisfactory to martinets by reason of the numerous opportunities it affords to display authority, but it develops a conflict of authorities, creates unjustifiable trouble and delays, involves friction and waste and is the very antithesis of sound business policy. Fortunately the training of our soldiers in eanip is carried out on satisfactory lines 011 the whole, but even there are to be found a reflex of the administration bungle, hut thanks to the men themselves the faults are minimised and are md'uallv being eliminated. If the Department is alive to its own and the county's in. terests it will not wait for the Commission's report to institute veforma. The country will expect that immediate steps be taken to stop the waste that lias been rampant, and to institute more practical and businesslike methods.