TERRITORIALS CUT OUT

Taranaki Daily News, 18 July 1930, Page 11

TERRITORIALS CUT OUT

A NEW DEFENCE SCHEME PERMANENT STAFF TO REMAIN SYSTEM OF CADRES FAVOURED. The suspension of military training was announced in Parliament on Wed- ' nesday by the Minister of Defence, the Hon. J. G. Cobbe, in reply to an urgent question asked by Mr. J. A. Nash (Reform —Palmerston North). The Minister added, that full details of the Government’s proposals in the matter would be given later.. Mr. Nash asked whether the Government had not already given instructions that compulsory military training with the exception of school cadets was to cease. If that were so, he suggested the Minister might take the House into his ‘confidence on the question. No further information was forthcoming, but the New Zealand Herald states definitely that the Government’s proposals are to suspend territorial and cadet training for one year, with the exception of school cadets, and to reduce the system to a cadre basis of such limited extent that to all intents and purposes the Territorial Force will be virtually abolished. DETAILS OF THE SCHEME. Details of the proposed scheme are as follows: — (a) To retain, as far as practicable, the present divisional organisation'. ► (b) To continue, if only on a cadre basis, the' Resent and well-established territorial unit organisation. (c) To reduce the permanent military forces of'the Dominion as little as ' possible,” and to ; retain at 'least- the minimum strength arid organisation' suf-' fiCient to provide a highly-trained and efficient cadre of regular soldiers for mbbilisatibn, peace training, and admin•istrAtive requirements.' ■” (d) To'dislocate as little as possible the existing organisation of the forces as a whole and the present distribution of‘the permanent personnel. After allowing for the maintenance of the minimum training and administrative staffs in commands and districts, the scheme provides for:— ; (a) The retention of a training and administrative depot. (b) The training of 600 officers and 2000 warrant and non-commissioned, officers of the Territorial Forces in brigade camps. (e) The training of 300 officers and 14,000 secondary school cadets. (PRESENT AND FUTURE STRENGTH ' At .the present time the Territorial Force has a strength of 1051 officers and 16,541 ■ other ranks, and the Cadet Force 649 officers and 32,070 other ranks. The establishment of officers and warrant and non-commissioned officers proposed to be retained by each unit is as under: —

“PORTUGUESE ARMY.” The result of these changes will have f onio resemblance to what is known as the' Portuguese army. The officers and •warrant officers and non-commissioned officers will have no one to train but themselves, and how they themselves -will'' bii able to learn much more than theory is beyond anyone with the ■slightest amount of military knowledge; This new defence system appears doubly grotesque in view of the faeV that it is proposed to retain, as far'aS possible, the present divisional ■organisation and to reduce the permanent forces as little ao possible. The total strength of the New Zealand Staff Corps and the New Zealand Perjfjftnent Force is about 500, Of the total defence vote for 1929-30, £400,587, salaries ’ of the permanent forces absorbed £199,212, or 40 per cent. -’The new system, it has been decided, must not cost more than £275,000, of which 72 per cent, will be absorbed by the salaries -of tho permanent forces unices they are reduced. ELECTRICAL FEELING IN FORCE. •“PUBLIC KEPT IN THE DARK.” B/ Telesrsph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. Though no information can be obtained in Wellington from Defence Department officers regarding the defence ’knits,” and the country officially is thus kept in the dark, territorial officers have nd hesitation in declaring what they think. The feeling among them is certainly electrical and they are especially indignant at the fact they allego that their units are no longer allowed to parade, even to disband and say farewell.

’■“This,” said one officer, “ie a most contemptible action on the part of the Government and is unprecedented in all •military history, It is usual when military units with honourable records are disbanded, and. ours, which have been honourable records, are to all intents and purposes being disbanded, to lay up the colours and be dismissed honourably. This, however, is not to be permitted in the case of the New Zealand Army. The object, of course, is to prevent possible demonstrations. Fbelilig among the officers on this subject is very strong, as ft bear* the iippfearance ’that' tlie ; ifnits' ; have been

dismissed in disgrace. It is a slur that is wholly undeserved.” Another factor concerning which equal indignation is expressed is that it is alleged that the Minister of Defence, the Hon. J. G. Cobbe, gave a definite personal undertaking to territorial officers some weeks ago that no change in the existing system would be made until they had had an opportunity of criticising any new scheme drawn up, and submitting their views thereon to the Minister. “This promise,” eaid one officer, “has been distinctly violated. The present cuts descended like a thief in the night and are so serious that no enemy could have dealt a more severe blow. Even now the Government in its secretive methods has not told the public what is being done, but you may take it from me that New Zealand is now placed in a very much worse position than Australia under its pacifist Labour Government. Indeed, there is no provision here for even a volunteer force, and thus the Government has gone one better than Australia and even exceeded the demands of the pacifist' deputations which recently waited upon it.” The general consensus of opinion expressed by those approached was that the Government has endeavoured to effect its purpose surreptitiously and has thereby undermined its own case, if it ever had one. which it could logically and confidently put forward. A special general meeting of the general and Wellington district councils of the National Defence League will be held for the purpose of considering the position. . In the meantime it stated the Government’s action has fully justified the revival of the league, and it is receiving' encouraging offers of support from various parte of the Dominion.

DEFENCE LEAGUE’S PROTEST.

“ONUS THROWN ON BRITAIN.”

Wellington, Last Night. ' A combined meeting of the general ■anil Wellington district ; councils of the. National Defence League this afternoon' passed the : following resolutions;— “This meeting enters an • emphatic protest against the action of the- Government in suspending the compulsory provisions- of the Defence Act and doos so upon the following grounds: That neither Parliament nor the country was consulted in the matter and the action was undemocratic and unconstitutional; that "by the Government’s action New Zealand has been placed in the position of being unable to protect itself or to fulfil its military obligations to dither the British Empire or the League of Nations, to both of which it stands solemnly committed; that New Zealand, one of the richest, if not the richest country per head of the population in the world, has thus thrown the onus for its defence upon an already overburdened Mother Country which, while maintaining a defence expenditure of £110.(100,000, equal to £2 9s per head of the population ended last year with a deficit of £14,500,000 and now has close upon 2,000,00 unemployed; that the Government by its action has thus placed New Zealand in the position of having practically no defence force at all, thereby rendering, it the weakest State in the Empire; that this action has been taken at a time when Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, the British Labour Primo Minister, has proclaimed a great decline in the peace spirit of the world, when the supremacy of the British Navy has vanished and when the position of the Empire is seriously menaced in both India and Egypt. . “That this meeting protests against New Zealand, always foremost among the nations of the Empire in proofs oi its loyalty, being placed in such a false and dishonourable position. “That this meeting calls ,the attention of the general public to the grave menace to the future safety of the country by the adoption of a policy which, whenever there is temporary financial embarrassment, immediately resorts to making the largest cuts in the defence vote, and points out. that under such a system there can be no hope of efficiency in the future defence forces of New Zealand.”

RETURNED SOLDIERS PROTEST. WARM RESENTMENT EXPRESSED. In proposing the toast of the Army, Navy and Air Force at the Urenui R.S.A. reunion last night Major G. Bertrand expressed strong disapproval of the pro-: posal to suspend the Defence system. It mount really that New Zealand would have.no defence force in the future. It seemed to him a decided insult to all returned soldiers and he thought the R.S.A. should take action at once and make the strongest possible protest. Recently there had been a discussion by college students suggesting an alteration of Anzac Day—in other words, to do away with the celebration of that wonderful day. If that were the spirit of the day it was a poor look-out for New Zealand. It was up to tho returned soldiers to make their influence felt and to do so without delay.

Mr. C. H. Croker said the R.S.A. had already taken action, and so far as Anzac Day was concerned ho thought there was little chance of its celebration being interfered with. The R.S.A, would be behind any movement for the preservation of the present defence system.

Sergeant-Major-Bell said that speaking as a citizen he joined with Major Bertrand in regretting the action decided upon by Parliament. The territorial training was good and the material was as good as ever. Had tho training been completed there would have been plenty of young New Zelanders willing to take their places as defenders of their country. The volunteer system was good but it did not go far enough. .It did not lay hold of those who were disinclined to undergo training. Captain Hartnell supported the previous speakers. He feared, however, that any representations the returned soldiers might make would have little effect upon the Government. Still there would be an election next year and the returned men who supported a Government that had abolished defence training would bo acting in contradiction of the spirit which actuated the U.S.A, and would be d.sloyal to the memory of the JffiOOO diggers who never came home again. On the motion of Capt. G. E. dago, seconded by Mr. E. J. Carr, the following resolution was carried unanimously J “That this meeting of returned soldiers, representing as it docs the whole of North Taranaki, resents very much the action of tho present Government in restricting the defence vote and that the jellyfish attitude exhibited is a matter for much regret. Further, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Minister of Defence.”

Major Varaha.m''also supported -the motion.

Unit . Officers X.C.O.’s 'fl. Mounted Rifles ..... 18 4G64 Artillety— Field Battery ...» 4 19 23 Light Battery ..... 7 30 37 Medium Battery .. 4 18 22 •Coast 7 2G 33 Engineer Depot ,... 6 29 • 35 Signal Depot 6 23 29 Infantry Battalion 22 72 94 A.S.C. Depot ...... 5 24 29 Medical Depot .... 7 15 22 Otago. Varsity M.C. 10 37 47 The, following summary shows, for tho Dominion, the number of units of each arm and corps and the total OStablishment: — Officers N.C.O.’s Th 9 M.R. Regiments 162 414 576 12 Field Batteries . 48 228 276 2 Light Batteries 14 60 74 4 Medium Batteries 16 72 88 2 Coast Batteries 14 52 66 3 Depots N.Z.E. . 18 87 105 3 Depots N.Z. Sigs. 18 69 87 12 Infantry Bat’ns 204 864 1,12a 3 Depots N.Z.A.S.C. 15 72 87 3 Depots N.Z.M.C. 21 45 66 1 Otago Uni. M.C. 10 37 47 Grand Totals .. 600 2,000 2,600