WHO WAS THE ORIGINATOR?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16584, 17 November 1921, Page 2

WHO WAS THE ORIGINATOR?

AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE SCHEME. By Telecrr&ph—Prets Association -Copyright. Australian and .N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON. November 10. Brigadier-General Gordon, lecturing at the Royal Colonial Institute on the application of the Australian and New Zealand service systems t-o Britain, explained that the Australian system originated with him in 1895, when he> enlisted the support of the Premier, Mr Kingston, who authorised him to prepare a Bill for presentation to the South Australian Parliament. The project was delayed owing to financial difficulties, the imminence of Federation, end the outbreak of the South African war. The question finally was brought to an issue in 1006, as the result of a meeting at Sydney, under the presidency of Sir Allan Taylor, when Briga-dier-General Gordon announced that he had prepared a scheme for universal service, upon which the Minister of Defence telegraphed instructions to him tc forward the scheme. Brigadier-Gen-eral Gordon complied, with the result, ‘ my scheme was adopted in its entirety." Subsequently Lord Kitchener endorsed the scheme plus certain modifications which were eventually carried out. Brigadier-General Gordon urged the adoption of a similar scheme in Britain, and appealed to Mr Lloyd George to appoint a committee to advise the Government and Parliament. He was confident that the adoption of the Australian system would have the effect of reducing the cast of the British Territorial Army. General Hutton, after paying o: tribute to Brigadier-General Gordon’s loyalty and enthusiasm during their as-i-%ocia.tion in Australia, regretted that he had assumed the authorship of a schema which was probably the evolution of tb© general trend of thought spread over many years, for which no single authority was entitled to credit. He did nob for a moment doubt BrigadierGeneral Gordon's statements, but living spent six weeks in responsible military posts, first in New South Wales and subsequently for the Commonwealth after federation, be &aid k.i roust confess he had never heard * whisper of the existence of a- Gordon scheme, although he was daily in touch with the staff. He suggested that if Brigadier-General Gordon con template cl publication of his own paper he should have eliminated the personal pronoun.