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Military Commandant (p. 4, clause 11) with regard to the advanced training in camp, that such short periods as two or three days are inadequate. He recommends continuous training for at least six days for field artillery, cavalry, mounted rifles, and infantry. This minimum is certainly the lowest which should be adopted.

The advantage to staff and senior officers of acquiring the power of commanding, organizing, and administering troops in camps where large bodies are concentrated are obvious. Without such advantages it is difficult to see how the Colony is in the future to make herself independent of Imperial officers in the higher commands of her forces. The system of sending officers to England and India for instruction (pp. 4 and 5, clause 12) is an excellent adjunct to careful training in the Colony.

4. The Committee hope that it will be found possible to carry out the Commandant's recommendation (p. 7, clause 18) to form during the present year an artillery reserve, which shall be composed of men who have passed through the ranks of the permanent or partially-paid field or garrison artillery. They consider that this principle of forming a reserve for all the forces of the Colony should be embodied in the Military Act alluded to above. With regard to the utilization of existing rifle clubs as a reserve, with which the Committee dealt in paragraph 10 of their Remarks of the 10th March last, they would now desire to see the Rules and Regulations in connection with the formation of a Volunteer Reserve, stated in the present Report (p. 8, clause 20) to have been issued by the Assistant Adjutant-General's Department of the Head-Quarter Staff. They understand that steps have been taken to form the necessary reserve of officers referred to in paragraph 11 of their Remarks above quoted, though they trace no reference to this Reserve in the Report under consideration.

5. The Committee concur in the Commandant's recommendation (p. 6, clause 13) that the Naval Artillery Volunteers should be converted into artillery, and should become Nos. 7 and 8 (naval) companies, 2nd Garrison Division. The work for which these men are necessary is the manning of the heavy guns of the permanent defences, and it is thought desirable that the titles of corps should always correspond to their functions. In clause 31 on pp. 11 and 12 of the Commandant's Report, where questions relating to the naval forces of the Colony are also dealt with, it is thought that these forces would have been better described as "local naval forces," in order clearly to distinguish the naval forces for purely harbour defence from naval forces generally over which it is necessary to maintain Imperial

control.

6. The recommendation (p. 11, clause 29) of the Commandant that clothing for the troops should be issued from a Central Military Clothing Department is concurred in by the Committee, who have made similar recommendations with regard to other Colonies.

M. NATHAN, Secretary,

May 31, 1896.

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Colonial Defence Committee.

PRINTED AT THE FOREIGN OFFICH BY T. HARRISON.—2/6/96.

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