RUNNING THE EMPIRE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 20057, 21 September 1920, Page 8

RUNNING THE EMPIRE.

SIR T. MACKENZIE'S VIEWS. Writing to Mr Alexander Ferguson. ?lL^, hj t °l\ Urch> 9? Thomafl Mackenzie control'- 8 10 I)ro^) em °f bureaucratic _ lam often asked,” he says, “ what I think ot the future of this country, f. “? believe a better race ever uvea than its inhabitants, but it appears to me that they take some matters too lightly, and I doubt whether ho lessons of the war have yet had their proper effect. We . observe Germans getting access to this country il | a *h’ auc l we know that their methods or the past will bo adopted in the future,, if they get the chance. What is. wrong is, 1 think, clearly set forth in Bora fishers book ‘ Memories,’ in winch lie stales that men were promoted because of length of service or influence rather than because of capacity. As he put it ‘ Some day tho Empire will go down because it is Huggins turn.’ It took this Country three or four years to get rid of the incompetent officers of the Army and to en*l? 6 Krit to come through to the top. The deplorable Dardanelles expedition is an apt illustration of that, for although there were only about three thousand Turks when our men landed at Suvla. Bay, tho episode of twenty-four thousand British soldiers not marching three miles, whilst tho f urks were able to send for reinforcements and march seventy-three mill* m two days, and afterwards inflict some eight thousand casualties on the British, shows deplorable incapacity. “The Navy,., too, when the'days of war came, and' especially, at Jutland, discovered weaknesses that had been pointed out long before by competent naval Authorities, and as one officer, "■ho occupied a prominent position in the battle of Jutland, said to me, ‘The surprise is that the Germans left the British ships before they had sent most of them bo -the bottom.' Of course, defects were corrected afterwards;-but one feels that the reactionary incompetent- is allowed to reach the top and in many instances, when he blunders, instead of being ignominiously dismissed, is again placed in a- position of responsibility, and at times, decorated. | It may seem almost impertinent to refer to these outstanding questions, but the conclusion I have arrived at is that yon may change Govenuiients, but so long as departments are' controlled as they are, and have been, in this country for manv years, bv tbe Civil Service, the Minister has -little influence. I understand that Gladstone told 1 ’ Lord Fisher that he was* helpless against all the puhlu? departments. If this nation, in whom New Zealand is so much concerned, is hj stand, these things must be changed, and 1 believe that earnest men fin this country are at the present time stnio’ghng manfully t 0 effect the reforms that are necessary.”