CO129-465 - Public Offices & Others - 1920 — Page 435

2,

vert

their votes to particular individuals for ver

reasons.

Therefore the first objection to the system it is not calculated to provide the most suitab. and N.C.Os.

The second objection that such a system must

The idea of eles discipline is even more serious.

It has always officers is by no means a new one. first sight appeared attractive to democratic mince It was tri history has shown it to be unworkable. the French at the time of the Revolution, in th Federal Army in 1861, and lately in the Russian An 1917. In all cases the system speedily led to th collapse of discipline and was soon abandoned.

It is realised that in a Volunteer Force it is ularly important that the Officers and N.C.0s. she If, however, the Officers popular with their men. Force take the troubie to keep in touch with their Commands, and get to know their men personally, th should be little danger of any individual being a an Officer or an N.C.0. who would prove unaccepta those under him.

In view of the objections mentioned above the i urge strongly that these provisions with regard to) appointment of Officers and N.C.Os. should not be Once the principle of the election of Officers and was introduced there would be great risk of its s and perhaps ultimately threatening the discipline efficiency of the whole of His Majesty's Forces.

(b) Penalty for Non-Efficiency.

There appears to be no serious objection to the anission of the regulation which former ly provided a Member who caused loss to the funds of the Corps failure to become efficient was able to make 1088. As the Attorney-General has pointed out sa man can still be discharged and made to pay a g

In any varying with the length of his service.

is not considered that a provision of this kind te appreciably to increase the efficiency of a Volunt Force.

(c) Substitution of Term 'Administrative Commandant

Commending Officer

In view of the fact that the Senior Officer of Force is merely the administrative head and would command it for tactical or other purposes, the Ar see no objection to the change of title in this ca

(d) Discipline when on actual Military Service.

With reference to Section 17 (1) (e) of the New Ordinance the Council would point out that it is undesirable that when a Colonial Force is serving

434

overseas with Regular Forces on active service they should be subject to a different scale of punishments from that applicable to regular soldiers, especially in the case of offences such as cowardice and desertion.. It is a well known fact that the inability of a Court Martial to award the death penalty in the case of Australian troops in France seriously militated against the discipline of those forces.

Again the offence of murder is an offence under Section 41 of the Army Act and no other punishment than death in respect of that offence is legal there- under. It follows that if this sub-section stands in its present form, no punishment at all can be awarded to a soldier guilty of murder and tried under Section 41 of the Army Act. A similar provision in the case of the Australian Forces led to very serious difficulty in the case of certain Australian soldiers who committed the offence of murder in France.

With reference to Section 17 (1) (b) it would appear that if the force were to be operating outside and at any considerable distance from the Colony the enforcement of discipline might become impossible if the proceedings of every Court Martial have to be confirmed by the Governor.

11

The Council therefore suggest that it would be desirable to add a proviso to Section 17 (1) to the following effect "Provided nevertheless that such

modifications shall not apply to officers and volunteers, who being on active service as defined "by Section 189 Army Act are outside the limits of "the Colony". If this suggestion is not acceptable, then the Council would suggest that after the words "such Act" in sub-section (1) (a) the words except for the offence of murder" be inserted: and that suitable words be added to sub-section (1) (b) providing that the confirmation by the Governor should not be required when an officer or volunteer is out- side the limits of the Colony.

The Army Council would be glad to have, in due course, Lord Milner's views with regard to their observations, particularly those on the system proposed for the appointment of officers and N.C.08.

I am,

sir,

Your obedient Servant,

Agreedy