MILITARY TRAINING

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17994, 12 April 1930, Page 9

MILITARY TRAINING

(To the Editor.) Sir, Quite a number of letters have been ’in your paper recently. Being an ex-soldier and far travelled in manj countries I wish to give some of my views. First of all, to prevent wars be prepared for them, I agree with “ExSoldier” to a certain extent. Our military training is a fine thing for a Territorial army, but “Ex-Soldier” most-re-member that if a war broke out now it Would be far different to the last one. I say this: A small„well-trained regular army would suit our country best. We have a navy, small but as good as any in the world, but where is our army? Britain’s army of to-day, as we often read in our papers, is a mechanical army —whippet tanks instead of cavalry, and large tanks for drawing the big") guns. Anyone who served in France knows whether the cavalry was of much use. Yet our boys are stlil learning to be cavalry men. What I would like to see New Zealand do is to form a small regular army from the ranks of the unemployed. Give them two or three months’ training here and then draft some of them to different parts of the world and attach them to the British Army. Would it not be an honour to New Zealand to have, say three or four battalions of infantry and New Zealand tank corps, etc., as good as any other country. We had them as good as others in the last war; but, as “Ex-Soldier” says, it took several months’ training to make efficient soldiers. It looks as if we are going to have a navy and air force, so let us hope we will get an army to equal them. I think we should soon get the number of recruits as times are now. My opinion of war is, he prepared to •prevent it.—l am, etc., ANOTHER EX-SOLDIER. Hamilton, April 9.