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1927. NEW ZEALAND.

DEFENCE FORCES OF NEW ZEALAND. REPORT OF THE GENERAL OFFICER COMMANDING THE FORCES FOR THE PERIOD 1st JUNE, 1926, TO 31st MAY, 1927.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

REPORT. The Hon. the Minister of Defence. General Headquarters, N.Z. Military Forces, Sir, — Wellington, 31st May, 1927. I have the honour to submit the following report on the N.Z. Defence Forces for the period Ist June, 1926, to 31st May, 1927. 1. Commands and Staff. Staff. During the year Major J. A. Wallingford, M.C., N.Z. Staff Corps ; Major P. B. Henderson, M.C., N.Z. Staff Corps ; and Captain A. W. Baldwin, N.Z. Army Ordnance Corps, retired on superannuation, and Lieutenant S. Frickleton, V.C., N.Z. Staff Corps, retired on account of medical unfitness. The following were granted commissions in the N.Z. Permanent Forces to fill vacancies, and posted for duty as follows : — Captain M. W. Buckley, N.Z. Permanent Air Force, Flying Instructor, Wigram Aerodrome. Lieutenant T. P. Laffey, N.Z. Staff Corps, Area Officer, Area la, Auckland. Lieutenant F. E. B. Ivimey, N.Z. Staff Corps, Area Officer, Area 7a, and Adjutant, Ist Battalion, The Hawke's Bay Regiment, Napier. Lieutenant E. Tingey, M.C., N.Z. Staff Corps, Weapon Training Instructor, Northern Command. Lieutenant J. N. Henry, N.Z. Staff Corps, Area Officer, Area Bb, and Adjutant, 2nd N.Z. Mounted Rifles (Queen Alexandra's Wellington West Coast), Hawera. Lieutenant E. G. Moncrief, N.Z. Staff Corps, Area Officer, Area 4b, Pukekohe. Lieutenant A. P. McCormack, N.Z. Staff Corps, Area Officer, Area 12a, and Adjutant, Ist Battalion, The Southland Regiment, Invercargill. Lieutenant H. E. Erridge, N.Z. Army Ordnance Corps, Ordnance Officer (Provision), Trentham. All these newly appointed officers, except Captain Buckley, who had special flying qualifications, were previously warrant officers in the N.Z. Permanent Forces. 2. N.Z. Permanent Forces. Early in the year notification was received from the British Government of the establishment of the Imperial Defence College, and that two vacancies in the first course, commencing in February, 1927, had been allotted to the Dominion. Owing to financial considerations only one of the vacancies was accepted, and Major W. I. K. Jennings, D.5.0., N.Z. Staff Corps, who last year graduated at the Staff College, Camberley, was nominated to attend. The function of the Imperial Defence College is the training of a body of officers from the Navy, Army, and Air Force, and of selected high civilian officials, in the broadest aspects of Imperial strategy, and the occasional examination of current problems of Imperial defence referred to it by the Chiefs of Staff Committee, in which the supervision of the College for professional purposes is vested. During the year Major R. Miles, D.5.0., M.C., Royal N.Z. Artillery, who graduated at the Staff College, Camberley, and Captain G. H. Clifton, M.C., N.Z. Staff Corps, who had been under instruction at the School of Military Engineering in England, returned to the Dominion, and the following officers were sent to England for training : Major 0. H. Mead, D.5.0., N.Z. Staff Corps, to the Staff College, Camberley ; Captain L. M. Isitt, N.Z. Permanent Air Force, for attachment to the Air Ministry.

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