DEFENCE MATTERS.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18157, 23 October 1930, Page 7

DEFENCE MATTERS.

USELESS AMMUNITION. UNDER-SECRETARY APPOINTMENT. APPROVED BY HOUSE.(By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON,' Thursday. The House of Representatives resumed at 9 a.m. to-day and consideration of the Finance Bill (No. 2) was continued in committee. Mr A. M. Samuel (Reform.—Thames) protested against the pro-< posal to appoint an under secretary of defence, stating that a similar system had been a failure on a previous occasion. Mr A. Harris (Reform —Waitemata) characterised the proposal as an extraordinary one in view of the Government’s declared policy of economy. The Minister of Defence, the Hon. J. G. Cobbe, said there was no intention of placing a new officer in a superior position to f that of the general officer commanding. It was intended that a civil officer should have complete control of all expenditure. The Minister said that when the Defence Bill was under dlsousslon he had made allusion to the big supplies of small ammunition. He had only recently been informed that of these 40,000,000 rounds, upwards of 26,000,000 rounds were unserviceable, of these 20,000,000 were suitable for use only In machine guns, while 6,000,000 rounds costing £60,000 were absolutely

useless. In face of such a position as that he thought he was justified in asking for a man to take charge of the business transactions of the department. Mr Samuel suggested that the minister’s explanation was not of much value because under the contract there would be legal redress for faulty ammunition. The Leader of the Labour Party, Mr H.. E. Holland, said that after the Minister’s explanation he had no hesitation in making up his mind to vote for the proposition. Surely some change was necessary and such work should be conducted by ■ business rather than by military section Mr T. W. McDonald (United —• Wairarapa) agreed that some change was necessary, but he asked what hope had a civilian officer of judging whether • ammunition was faulty. In his opinion the trouble emanated from a contract negotiated by civilians, and the remedy should consist of the immediate "cancellation of the contract. The Leader of the Opposition, Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates stated that the defence system needed overhauling to ascertain where savings could he made, but he was satisfied that a military official would be capable of doing this. Replying to Mr Harris, Mr Cobbe stated that the difficulty of defective ammunition was not the reason for tlie appointment of an under secretary. There were other reasons. The Minister again read the statement outlining the duties this officer would be called upon to undertake. . The division was taken at midday on the clause providing for the i>— pointment, and it was adopted by -iO votes to 18.