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the fixed Defences are useless, and which is required to enable the full benefit to be derived from the expenditure already incurred on them, has been allowed to fall far below the proper strength.
The Colony has wisely provided itself with a competent Commandant, who, in his Report of the present and several preceding years, has directed the attention of the Colonial Government to deficiencies, and made judicious recommendations for their remedy. The Colonial Defence Committee can only urge that the Colony should make an effort to give effect to the remedial measures proposed with full local knowledge by its proper Military Adviser. They cannot help thinking that the present unpaid system should, as soon as possible, be altered, judging at least from the statements in the Annual Return for the present year that men in the cities will not attend drills without payment, and that there is little chance of the force being maintained at its necessary strength until the Colony consents to pay for a liberally partially paid system as adopted in the neighbouring Australian Colonies. Should the finances of the Colony not permit of this at present, it is suggested that at least some measures should be adopted to render the conditions of service under the present system more attractive. Committee fully recognize the severity of the late financial crisis in the Australasian Colonies, but however depressing its effects may be it would be an unwise policy to allow the Defence Forces to sink to such a low ebb that the recurrence of a war scare such as happened in Tasmania in 1885 should be rendered possible.
The
(Signed)
December 31, 1894.
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W. PEACOCKE, Secretary,
Colonial Defence Committee,
PRINTED AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE BY T. HARRISON,—5/1/95.
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