THE BRITISH ARMY

Taranaki Daily News, 30 April 1931, Page 7

THE BRITISH ARMY

HEALTH AND CHARACTER. PROMOTION FROM THE RANKS. London, March 20. Presenting the Army Estimates in the House of Commons, the Secretary for War, Mr. T. Shaw, dealt with a number of subjects arising out of the administration of the Department. Mr. Shaw said he was prepared to accept a motion bn the paper on the subject , of increased facilities for vocational training in the Army. He was entirely in favour of everything, being done to fit men for a career in civil life on leaving the .Army. There had been a considerable increase during the past few months in the number of recruits to the Army. From October, 1929, to September, 1930, 66,717 men offered themeelves for enlistment, but 52 per cent, of them could not be accepted owing to their physical condition. There had been difficulty in getting a full supply of men for the Territorials, and for the moment there was a shortage, but no crisis or anything really serious. Dealing with the health and character of the men in the Army, the Minister said that serious diseases that used to be prevalent hail diminished in a very marked degree. Three-fourths of the drunkenness had disappeared. He protested against the idea that the Army canteens wen not fit for respectable people. “The ordinary regimental establishment,” he said, ‘is pretty much what the ordinary middle-class tea roohl is in London —it is just as clean, and the men ite just as well-behaved.” There had been a marked improvement in the matter of crime in the Army. Trials by court-martial were going down year by year. Detention was of a different character, and clemency was being exercised, m a different way. Barrack accommodation was unfortunately not all that could be desired, but improvements were L-mg made, and it was hoped in the course of a few yeiirs to remove many of the abuses that now existed. In regard to mechanisation, the principle observed was not to pile up materials whose character, was changing day by day owing to the inventions of science. Only when a settled type had been found were stocks built up. It was becoming just as difficult to fill the ranks of the officers as of the men. A Departmental Committee was enquiring into the matter. A pleasant feature was that of 616 commissions granted since March, 1930, 105 had been given to men from the ranks. (Hear, hear). As the type of man was changing, so th; type of officer was changing, and must change. Mathematics, physics, and chemistry were becoming of more and more importance, and the old type of education would no longer suffice. “It is to be hoped,” Mr. Shaw continued, “that a method will be found for the systematic promotion of men from the ranks into the commissioned ranks in such a way that the trained soldier with the modern scientific knowledge required will find his way easily from the bottom to the top.’’ He denied that in experiments as to the use of gas there was any cruelty practised on animals. Everything was done to avoid suffering, and directly any animal showed sign? of great pain it was at once painlessly destroyed. (Hear, hear.) Speaking on the general policy of the Government. Mr. Shaw said that there could be no doubt whatever that unilateral disarmament had not achieved its object. The enormous reductions made in this country had not been reproduced in other countries. It was impossible in the circumstances for him to recompiend to the Government any further unilateral disarmament. “The Government will,” he added, as they have done in regard to the Navy, take a leading part in negotiations for the diminution of land forces. We will do everything we can as a Government to bring the day about when by international agreement armaments will be reduced all over the world. At the same time it is absolutely impossible to propose a diminution of the numbers in the Army. That is why the numbers proposed in the estimate remain, roughly, as last year ”