MILITARY TRAINING.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18622, 18 July 1930, Page 12

MILITARY TRAINING.

COMPULSORY CLAUSES SUSPENDED TERRITORIALS TO HAND IN EQUIPMENT. By Telegraph—Press Association. WELLINGTON, July IT. “Compulsory military training has been suspended for the present,” said the Minister for Defence, the Hon. J. G. Cobbe, in replying to an urgent question asked by Mr J. A. Nash (R., Palmerston) in the House of Representatives yesterday. The Minister added that details of the Government’s proposals in the matter would be given later. Mr Nash had asked whether, the Government had not already given instructions that compulsory military training, with the exception of school cadets, was to cease. If they were so, he suggested the Minister might take the House into his confidence on the question. The opening announcements by the Government of its intentions to effect considerable changes in the defence system of New Zealand had been followed up by drastic cuts, and this retrenchment, it is stated, is now being carried out. Details of the cuts to be effected are generally known among members of the Permanent Staff, and the officers of the Territorial Forces are aware of the proposed changes, which include the following: (1) Suspension of the compulsory provisions of the Defence Act for twelve months. (2) Retention of Territorial officers and n.c.o's. as cadres of their existing units. (3) Retention of secondary school cadets. (4) All other trainees and Territorial and Senior Cadet Forces to hand in their equipment immediately. (5) The retirement of a number of members of the defence staff. It is believed that members of the clerical staff of the Defence Department have not been wholly unprepared for what has occurred, as they have been in possession of circulars advising them to hold themselves in readiness for transference to other Government Departments. It is inferred that training officers are to be given positions in the Defence Department occupied at the present time by the clerical staff, thus obviating dismissals to some extent. It is considered the cuts will be far-reaching in their effects, and that being so, the dismissal of a fair proportion of the staff should not be unlikely. The training period of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve is being reduced from four years to three years. Notice of this was given to members of the reserve within the last fortnight. Expenditure for the Naval Reserve is provided from the naval vote.

“GONE FOR EVER.” By Telegraph—Press Association AUCKLAND, July 17. Commenting on the suspension of military training, a prominent artillery officer said such extreme measures / were regrettable. Once compulsory i training was off the Statute Book, it was gone for ever. It had been > difficult enough to put on, and he considered it would never be enforced again. RESOLUTIONS OF PROTEST. NATIONAL DEFENCE LEAGUE’S OBJECTIONSBy Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, July 17. The following resolutions were passed this afternoon, by a combined meeting of the General and Wellington District Councils of the National J Defence League:— “This meeting enters an emphatic protest against the action of the Government in suspending the compulsory provisions of the Defence Act, and does so upon the following grounds:—(a) That neither Parliament nor the country was consulted in the matter, and the action taken was undemocratic and unconstitutional; (b) That by the Government’s action, New Zealand has been placed in a position of being unable to protect herself, or to fulfil her military obligations to either the British Empire or the League of Nations, to both of which she stands solemnly committed; (c) That New Zealand, one of the richest, if not the richest country per head of population in the world, has thus thrown the onus for her defence upon an already over-burdened Mother Country, which, while maintaining a defence expenditure of £110,000,000, equal to £2. 9/- per head of her population, ended last year with a deficit of £14,500,000, and now has close upon 2,000,000 unemployed; (d) 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; (e) That this action has been taken at a time when Mr Ramsay Macdonald, the British Labour Prime 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. “(2) That this meeting protests against New Zealand, always foremost among the nations of the Empire in proofs of its loyalty, being placed in such a false and dishonourable position.

“(3) 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 future in the Defence Forces of New Zealand.”

TERRITORIAL OFFICERS ENRAGED. “DISMISSED IN DISGRACE.” By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON. July 17. Though no information can be obtained in Wellington from Defence Department officers regarding defence “cuts,” and the country officially is thus kept in the dark, Territorial officers have no hesitation in declaring what they think. Feeling among them is certainly electrical, and they are specially indignant at the fact, which they allege, that their units are no longer allowed to parade, even to disband and say farewell. “This,” said one officer, “is 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 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. Feeling among the officers on this subject is very strong, as it bears the appearance that units have been dismissed in disgrace. It is a slur that is wholly undeserved.”

Not Consulted. Another factor concerning which equal indignation is expressed is that it is alleged that the Minister of Defence (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 an opportunity of criticising any new scheme drawn up, and submitting their views thereon to the Minister. “This promise,” said 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 a 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 pacifist deputations which recently waited upon them.” The general consensus of opinion expressed by Territorial officers was that the Government has endeavoured to effect its purpose surreptitiously, and had thereby undermined its own case, which it could logically and conput 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 is stated that the Government's action fully justified the revival of the League, and it is receiving encouraging offers of support from various parts of the Dominion.