DEFENCE QUESTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12405, 24 August 1918, Page 8

DEFENCE QUESTIONS.

THE HEADQUARTERS CONFERENCE.

(Special to the “Star.”) WELLINGTON, August! :M, It is evident from the Palmerston North resolution regarding tho Dolence Conlerenco now in progress that Us nature is not quite realised. Certain criticisms and suggestions have been made by the Defence Expenditure Commission, and Iho conference is for tho purpose of discussing among tho Defence administrative officers Uie piacticability of those proposals. No tody of business men could adequately discuss tho matters from tho particular angle at which tho experts view thorn It may I> o that other counsels will ho wanted by tho Minister of Defence, but he is certainly wise in securing the views of tho men who must administer whatever changes are adopted. 111086 w l) 6 criticise tho Defence Department will have cause for satisfaction m the constitution of this conference, it is the largest of its kind ever field in New Zealand, this being duo to the significant and. satisfactory decision to include at the Table a number of the younger officers associated with' Defence administration—capable men who have not yet been promoted to the highest positions, but who arc gifted with initiative and capacity which mark I hem lor positions of responsibility. As far as can bo learned, the thread onod Adjutant-General’s Department is going to survive, though the conference has been discussing affairs in a thorough .fashion, and there has been no disposition to “follow my leader" methods among the majority present, in tact, some acute differences of opinion have at times developed. The suggestion by the Defence Commission that the battalion system of training should bo adopted seemed to meet with approval, but I understand that when the case for the existing system was fully put forward, and the results demonstrated, the conference—which numbers fifty officers—decided to recommend that the old system be preserved. The discussions have not vet concluded.