H.—l9a

33

Tenure of Appointments. 86. For men engaged in administrative work, fixity of tenure is of greater importance than for those occupied in purely military duties. It is part of my conception of a well-organized business department that its members should receive their appointments, and should be removable, only at the instigation of the head of the department, who should be allowed considerable latitude in determining how long his subordinates should remain in any particular post. At the same time steps should be taken to prevent the occupant of any administrative post, particularly in districts, from wielding too much power and influence owing to his tenure of office exceeding unduly the period of four years, to which the appointment of Commandants and of the representatives of other departments is limited. Moreover, care should be taken to keep administrative officials at Army Headquarters in thorough touch with the life of the Army, and their should be a constant and well-calculated interchange of all ranks between the Defence Office at Melbourne and the administrative branches in the districts. The tenure of appointments in the administrative department mighi reasonably be fixed at six years. APPENDIX VIII. Showing broadly the Distribution of Duties at Army Headquarters under the Proposed Scheme. Defence Minister Responsibility to Parliament. (lateral Officer Commanding the Forces — Responsibility to tin . Minister for tlie efficiency of the Army. Chief of the General Staff. Adjutant-Oeneral. Quartermatter-Oeneral. Inspector of Artillery, Inspector of Engim < rs, War policy; defence Peace polioy am! peace es- Transport, remount, ordnance, Inspector of Rifle Clubs, schemes and eoncen- tablishments j discipline; supply and barraok services; Drill-halls mid Rifli tration for war ; mili- supervision of record office administration, distribution, Ranges. tary training of the work : mobilization of per- and technical training of tones. sonnel; military regulations, personnel for these services; ; Inspection of the services Preparation <>f estimates including mobilization regu- mobilization quostions con- ' concerned. Technical for votes (' (b) (c). lations : medical een iocs, nected with above duties in instruction. Technical Preparation of estimates for conjunction with the Chief advice, to the various votes: A (a), (li). and (c) ; ' of the General Staff ; duties branches of the staff. B (o), (6); D("): E (share of Accounting Officer and of). Approving Officer of the De- j fence Department; compilation of the parliamentary estimate. Preparation of estimates for votes : A (d) ; B (r); C («). (d), (c), (/): I) (b) to (»); E («harc of) ; F.

Note. —In his capacity as the Accounting Officer and the Approving Officer of the Defence Department, tho Quartermaster-General should deal directly with the .Minister, the Treasury, and the Auditor-General. In these matters he should also correspond directly with administrative officers in districts. In other respects he is a Staff officer to the General Officer Commanding, and acts merely as his agent. The capital letters in the above table have reference to the rotes as shown in the appropriations for 1913-14. APPENDIX IX. The Necessity of a Eecohd Office. (Extract from the Etepori on the Australian Military Forces by the Inspector-General of the Oversea Forces, 1914.) The War System. 61. The Field Service Eegulations, which are based upon our dearly bought South African experiences, contain the following paragraph : — "■ Office-work in the field is to be restricted as to what is absolutely indispensable : no officework will Ik , transacted with a unit or service in the field that can be possibly dealt with at a stationary office." To carry out the principle embodied in this extract, " record offices " with specially trained staffs have, since the South African War, been established for every corps and department of the Imperial Army ; pay accounting has, as far as circumstances permit, been detached from units under the socalled Dover system, and simple but effective means have been devised for keeping both record and pay offices in touch with the rank and file, no matter where in the world their units may be stationed. Further, army books and forms used on active service have been greatly simplified, and these war tonus have, wherever practicable, replaced the move elaborate documents previously used in peace.

5—H. 19a.