The Star. FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1910. LORD KITCHENER'S REPORT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9789, 4 March 1910, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1910. LORD KITCHENER'S REPORT.

Lord Kitchener's report on the reorganisation of the New Zealand Defence Forces will be made public in the course of a day or two, and in the meantime, we suppose, the Government is considering what portions of it ought to be treated as confidential. It goes without saying, we think, that the Field Marshal will congratulate the State on having introduced a system of compulsory military training, and that he will waste no sentimental words regretting the passing of the Volunteer system. He will doubtless warn us against being in too great a hurry. It is the tendency of a young country to hasten towards the objective without making sure of each step, and the man who conquered, the Soudan by means of a railway is not likely to praise an impetuous rush in which the lines of communication are entirely ignored. Our main defence is', and must be, on the sea, and if the Field Marshal does not emphasise this aspect of the problem it will only bo because he regards it as axiomatic. Apart from naval defence, what New Zealand needs is the adequate protection of her chief ports and her coalfields by fixed fortifications, and behind that the organisation of an efficient mobile force, capable of being concentrated at any given point in the shortest possible space of time. It should not be difficult for us to raise a citizen army competent to deal with a sudden raid on our coasts. The larger problem of meeting a nersistent and repeated invasion involves, it eeems to us, a consideration of Australian and South Pacific conditions. If an enemy made a base in the South Pacific Ave should have to depend on the Navy to protect us, If Australia were overrun, however, the naval defence would scarcely be adequate, and consequently our ultimate fate is largely bound up with that of Australia. These broad issues must engage the attention of all students of colonial defence, but they are not to be solved in a day. The present duty of the dominion is to provide itself with the best land force at its command, and Lord Kitchener's recommendations, no doubt, will be concerned with the immediate organisation and equipment of the citizen army contemplated in the Defence Act. Following the Australian recommendations, wo may expect the cadet training to he treated as purely elementary, requiring to be supplemented by recruit training before the young men are drafted into the Defence Force proper. The training recommended, exclusive of what is called "home training" in Australia, is as follows: —

For junior cadets, 12 to 14 years, 120 hours; for senior cadets, 14 to 18years, equivalent to 16 days'; recruit training, 18 to 19 years, 16 days, 8 of which to be in camp; trained soldiers, 19 to 20 years, 16 days. 8 of which to be in camp 20-21, 21-22, 22-23 23-24, 24-25 years, 6 days in camp; 20-26 years, muster parade only. Two considerations strongly insisted upon by Lord Kitchener in. his Australian report are the training of citizen officers—apart from the permanent staff—and the development of a national pride in the army. The first demands the attention of the Government, the second the attention of the public. These questions can be discussed at leisure, but the necessity for awakening the active interest of the people in the Defence Force cannot be too frequently emphasised. The institution of inter-district competitions, and the encouragement of rifle shooting as a national recreation will occur to everyone as being useful ,and desirable in this connection.