Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of A Century.] WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1911. THE BRITISH ARMY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXIII, Issue 9893, 25 January 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of A Century.] WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1911. THE BRITISH ARMY.

The appointment of Lord Kitchener to the Defence Committee is referred to at length in a recent issue of the Saturday Review; and the paper takes the opportunity to very frankly point out some of tne things that threaten to undermine the efficiency of the British Army. According to Colonel Gadke's famous article iv the Berliner Tageblatt, not only are our leading generals incapable or handling large masses of men iv tbe held, but the troops themselves, man for man, are unfitted by their deficient training to play any appreciable part in European warfare. But the Review refuses to accept this view in toto. It holds tiiat "our troops _are the equal of any iv Europe, and more efficient than they have ever beeu before in our history. Our soldiers were good enough iv South Africa, and it is unlikely that auy Europeau army would have done better against the Boers. But the soldiers of to-day are more intelligent, more highly trained, and they march better thau did their predecessors of even eleven years ago." The Review points out that Colonel Gadke based his conclusions mainly on his observations during certain army manoeuvres carried out in the neighbourhood of Salisbury ; and his conclusions were not surprising, for rarely has such a hopeless scene of confusion beeu witnessed, neither generals nor umpires knowing what was going ou. The Review sums up: Compared with pre-African war days, "all is well with the regimental units; but it cannot be said that the higher leadiug of troops has appreciably improved. ... It seems as if our generals had not sufficiently assimilated the now organisation. Some at least of our higher commanders do not seem yet to have learnt to think in divisions. They worry about details, with the result that this vicious tendenoy affects the whole organisation; and no real cohesion between either brigades or divisions exists. Moreover, we have some doubt whether tho system of selection is well-managed. Possibly we may not have the men, but we think matters could be improved."

To make the British Array thoroughly efficient, then., we must

have the Army better led, by better leaders, than at present. ! For years the .whole Empire has known that the effectiveness of the military forces of Britain is discounted by a romarkable Jack of oohesiveuess—due largely to the class of officers holding commissions. To we democrats of the Antipodes nothing about tho institutions of Britain seems more open to criticism than the manner iv which men from the ranks are praotioally debarred, by arrant snobbery aud class prejudices, from gaining auy position of command. The useful ollioor of good birth holding a responsible positiou in the Army could not ba bettered; but the very largo number of weaklings, sons of wealthy or distinguished parents, who hold positions iv the Army, might easily be replaced by more able meu. It ia iv this respect that the Empire looks to Lord Kitcneuer—the mau who cleaned up affairs in Egypt, and the Transvaal, and who reorganised the Indian Army. The Review, after pointing out that the man who differed from and got the better of Lord Ourzou is rather a different person from the complacent gentlemen who have adorned the Army Council from its inception ; and referring to the peculiar delay that occurred between the time of Kitchener's arrival from Australasia and his appointment to the Council, con-cludes-.—"Now that he has his seat on the Defence Committee, we hope that ho will not belin his previous reputation like another distinguished brother-officer of nis, and tamely follow in the wake of the politicians. In these days we need all the best professional talent we cau secure, aud especially in the Army; and it does not seem to have beeu getting it up to now. The Army Council has not amongst its military members a single officer who has held au important command, either in peace or war time; and ii> is safe to say that, from one cause or another, not one ot them would ever entrusted with au important command on active service."