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Naval forces.
Reserves.
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on temporary and personal matters than is the case with partially-paid forces, in which the actual loss of time devoted to military duties is at any rate partially compensated by the payments made to secure efficiency. The Government has undoubtedly more hold on Militia than on Volunteer troops, while, as pointed out by Major-General French (paragraph 114), excepting the actual pay of individuals, the cost of Volunteers to the Government is "as great or greater than that of partially-paid troops. Finally, the Committee are convinced, from the experience of various Colonies, that a homogeneous force is more likely to attain a high and uniform standard of efficiency than one composed partly of Militia and partly of Volunteers, with conflicting claims on the support of the Colony.
8. In his Report for the year 1895 Major-General Hutton recommended that the Naval Artillery Volunteers should be converted into garrison artillery, and in this proposal the Committee has concurred (paragraph 5 of their Remarks, No. 143 R., dated the 31st May, 1896). Attention is called to it by the Officer Commanding the Artillery in paragraph 20, Appendix C, to the present Report. The present Com- mandant, however, is apparently (paragraphs 99-103) desirous of keeping the Naval Forces as such, and discusses the part which he thinks they might take as a reserve to the Royal Navy in Australasian waters.
The subject is a general one, affecting other Colonies than New South Wales, and the Colonial Defence Committee propose shortly to deal with it in a separate Memorandum.
9. Of the various questions brought forward in the Commandant's Report which affect all branches of the service, possibly the most important is that of reserves. Major-General Hutton hoped to form these at any rate, for the infantry-by giving a certain amount of military training to members of civilian Rifle Clubs, and the Regulations published in the "New South Wales Gazette" of the 30th July, 1896, were drawn up with this end in view. The opinion of the Colonial Defence Committee as to the system proposed was given in their Memorandum No. 97 M, dated the 16th February, 1897, and the attention of other Colonies of Australia was called to it, and in Victoria as well as in New South Wales it has received some trial. In neither Colony has it so far proved a success, though possibly better results may be obtained by a longer experiment. Major-General French, however, thinks (paragraph 119) that we should have little difficulty in forming a reserve from those who have completed their time in the ranks, and for a small retaining fee would keep their names on the books. An occasional training or course of musketry would keep these men up to date, and in this way we should gradually create a reserve that would be worth having."
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In this connection the Colonial Defence Committee would call attention to the following paragraphs extracted from recent Remarks on the Report of the Council of Defence of Victoria for 1897 :-
"A reserve from members of the Rifle Clubs who receive some training in military duties would, undoubtedly, be a useful addition to the strength of the Colony, but the Committee, reverting to their original proposal, would much prefer to see this looked upon as a second reserve, and that the first reserve should be formed of men who have passed through the ranks of the permanent and partially- paid forces. The Committee have recently had the advantage of discussing this question with Commander Collins, Secretary of Defence to the Government of Victoria, and Colonel Gordon, Military Cominandant of South Australia. They are aware that in both Colonies men can be enlisted for a period of service with the colours, and a period in the reserve, but, whereas it is the intention in South Australia to compulsorily pass men of a certain service into the reserve, in Victoria they are always allowed to continue with the colours for the full period for which they are enrolled if they so desire. It is obvious that it is only by the former system that a reserve can automatically be built up, and that for a fixed expenditure a larger number of men can be kept up if a proportion receive, say, half the amount of pay for half the amount of duty.
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Reverting, however, to the question of reserves, the Committee consider that it might be usefully put to a Conference of Commandants in Australia, who possess the intimate knowledge of the condi- tions of the Colonies which they themselves necessarily lack, and they suggest that the Government of Victoria should take the necessary action to this end. The basis on which the Commandants should be directed to frame their recommendations, is how the Colonies can provide from active forces and trained reserves, for the minimum expenditure and on a uniform system, the numbers of efficient men laid down in the Defence Schemes of the various Colonies as necessary for their defence."
In New South Wales, where a force of about 10,000 men are required (para- graph 117), it should be possible, for the annual sum of 200,0001. mentioned by the
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