The Star. FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 13, 1901. THE NEW ZEALAND WAR OFFICE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7202, 13 September 1901, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 13, 1901. THE NEW ZEALAND WAR OFFICE.

The farewell report of i.'he- Cominandwnt of the Forces is not «, s'tiikingly sivggtstivc document, but Colonel Poivton makes hie periodic attack upon >tlvs War Office system of the colony. The organisation, he implies, is at sixes and reveiis, partly because officers cc-tromaTiding cist rifts are luvfc. paid wdl enough, hut mminly because, t-h-erc- is <k;<> muclh centrauisa'tion. Xo one denies tint tho Defence Department Iras been nlxwihiably mismanaged in the pa>t.. but- to mil mind the head office has Diver displayed quite such ipcompft'tnce as (.luring t.ho pa:-'t twelve or eighteen nvfir-t-h?. It- se€Wj= io be both under?taffod and' over-staffed, and we suspect i li Mil. the money uf tie cc!mr.-y is bring wasted on 'the maintenance of '" ornaments." It :-s probably 'tine, as Colon-el Penton suggests, that, the system wn-ul-Ji be much improved by die-centralim-itm, but-Jje-fore we leave the whole conduct of Volunteer affairs to district .staffs, we nn?;»:- b<* sure that the> officers criinmanding districts are lit. to be 'tnisted wi'ihi the added re-{•pons:b:lit-ies. Experience diets not encourago us to hope for any great imiprovemerfc from th«i delcgia'ti'oh of responsibility, because local staffs have a habit, of displaying wonderful ineptitude in the organisation and management of encampments and reviews ; but matters in this respect could not well be worse than they an?, and probably no provincial staff evfr perpetrated a worse blunder than the notorious Newtown Park Camp, which v.as pitched and fed under the very eye of the head office. Drastic reforms are needed somewhere, and the Defence- Minister might begin at the very top. Instead of importing an Imperial officer, with a paradeground reputation, he should seek out as Commandaait of the Forces a, capable business man, with Komo knowledge of 'he needs of colonial Volunteers. We would suggest further, remembering the "wretched pVt," that the possession -of tact should not be regarded as a disqualification.