The Timaru Herald WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1918. DEFENCE ADMINISTRATION

Timaru Herald, Volume CVII, Issue 16611, 21 August 1918, Page 6

The Timaru Herald WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1918. DEFENCE ADMINISTRATION

So undue time has been lost by the Minister <jf Defence in casing: his promised conference 4>£ district commanders and otJielofficers .to consider the report).of the Defence Commission. The conference will meet to-day in" Wellington, and its object,-ac-cording to the announcement Made earlier bv Sir James "Allen, i will be to "consider how the suggestions in the report can. be applied to- secure greater efficiency and economy." If the officers who will meet together keep that object steadily before them, . and if the recommendations of the Commission are considered bj r theni with the otvrn. mind, and desire to profit byj advice as far as -possible, :.w/£icli Sir James Allen has declared to be tlie Government's attitude, the public will hare no cause to" find fault with" the procedure adopted. The Commission, while the on the whole, 1 " "upon work well done,' las proposed not a few changes in its organisation and methods for the sate of increased efficiency. The changes,, which seem simple when they are broadly- stated..are bound to interfere' at first- with: every seer tipn of • jng. ' 2fp one can than its-officers how these -.effects; can. be reduced, and improvenuents made with the minimum dislocation . To, drag Board at this-stage, as a north]-. ;fcrn Chamber'of Cpnudeifce' l . : ha|£ suggested, to' say.'how tthfe.'re* commendations should be appliedj -would mean, in effect, set-J ting up a new_ Commission, toj ( advise on one.; .ex-.; teriittlv body 'h t has.'/ already - taken j nearly sis months to'master. l \-\ It is plain that one or two pro-; posals of the. Defence Commission will . not.-., be. practicable..: .•'' The; excuse;- tha* •' Grandfather did -it* -is fviery leaky, nowadays// it-declares, in. a." sentence of its report that cannot be too constantly remembered by the Conference, but grandfather did some good things, and Sir Boberii 'Anderson and his colleague* seem to advise some changes; mainly for the sake of differing, with that old gentleman, a procedure not more reasonable than undue conservatism. It seems clear that the -Defence Department: can no more alter army, nomenclature than it could alter words; ofc. cpnuna-nd ■•: -while ?J -'W Zealand's forces form part of tf:e Imperial' Army,. and. - proposed, changes, which would "wine nut the Adjutant-General'd Department as a separate branch; may be subject to tne same objection. The Commission makes' cat -a stronger case for dividing tip th? duties now performed by *zeu2£il' Robin as General Officer Commanding and as ' QuartermasterGeneral. Its suggestion for the shortening of training-given to the reinforcements should -be very carefully considered, and the absurd system under which an officer, in Wellington, loaded with other duties, discharges the real functions of two camp commandants should be ended at once and without anv discussion. In detail, and affecting the 'dls-. trict branches, the Commission has made manv recommendations which the conference should be anxious to fulfil. But the'conference will not have its'lestet value if it helps those who,will take parti in it to understand and strive to attain the spirit of active, thinking cb-operatiOo, as distinct, from mere obedience to orders, which' the Commission lays down as its ideal. Kis vot only the macliinery of the Deixirtuieut which has; been; #t fault. Too many of its men have heeu machines, whicli all Civil Servants can become when thev do not watch, themselves, and the military servanimay feel an actual, perverted pride in Decoming when his army principles, extended to a logical absurditv, are made his warrant for the state. Initiative has not been encouraged; suggestions, sent by officers to Headquarters, have too often been coldly received; these are weaknesss whose discussion by the conference should cause a new system to be produced. When the Commission says that the Department, considering' what it has performed rts well as its defects, "may well comport itself proudly," we can hoi>e that that advice will not be followed too literally. After the conference has been held the Government should be able to say just? where and how it intends to act upon the Commission's report,, and, >if anv of its recommendations are judged to be impracticable, , the. public will -re-.: quire the fullest statement ;of I whv they cannot be applied. j