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Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 18965, 17 March 1924, Page 5

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ARMY ESTIMATES DEBATED. LONDON, March 14. In the House of Commons, in moving the Army Estimates, the Hon. Stephen Walsh, Secretary for War, explained that the estimates were prepared by the previous Government but he was satisfied they had been framed with due regard for economy and the needs of the country. He declared that if the German menace had disappeared it must be remembered that distant possessions could not be left defenceless. Mr. Walsh declared there was no sign of improvement in the recruiting policy of substituting machines for man power. It required a highly equipped research department, which should be one of the finest it was possible to organise. He appealed to employers to facilitate employees joining the Territorials. There would be no army manoeuvres fn 1924, but a short period of inter-divisional operations. They were getting a higher type of intelligence in the army, and a high state of discipline, which enabled the detention barracks at Devonport and Colchester to be closed. The difficulties I we had to contend with in Egypt, Irak, India, and the East would not at present warrant a decrease in the strength of the army.

A motibn relative to the pensions and grievances of certain ranker officers was defeated by 220 to 201, after Mr. Baldwin had endorsed Mr. MacDonald’s suggestion for the appointment of a committee to inquire into the whole matter.

Brigadier-General Page-Croft pointed out that, compared with 1914, we had reduced our trained forces by 260,000. He said no other country had done anything like that. Major Attlee, replying to the de bate, said everyone was convinced we ought to draw officers from as many different strata of the population as possible. We were well up to the standard of other armies in regard to invention. c The debate was adjourned. (Reuter). Received March 16, 11.30 p.m. LONDON, March 15.

As an outcome of yesterday’s dhfeat, Hon. J. R. Clynes lodged a motion “That until the end of the financial year Government business have precedence at every sitting.” The motion, if carried, will permit the Government to take private members’ time on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and may result in shelving the Miners’ Bill. r