JAPANESE ARMY METHODS.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 134, 3 December 1904, Page 5

JAPANESE ARMY METHODS.

AUSTRALIAN MILITARY ATTACHE'S REPORT. ABSENCE OF RED-TAPE AND ROUTINE. A TRD3UT"e TO THE JAPANESE SOLDIERS. (Received December 3, 9.25 a.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day. Colonel Hoad, Australian Military Attache, >vho was with ths Japanese army, has furnished the Federal Government with a compendious report. In studying the army methods, Colonel Hoad says he found the Japanese carefully avoided redtape and routine in centralisation. "For some years the Japanese have relied entirely on their own officers for administration and command, atld the system is elastic and capable of rapid expansion in case of an emergency. There is entire sympathy between the civil and military naval authorities, and tho methods are practical in all things. The control is by a Board, on the system adopted by hiost of the other nations. The Japanese, however, have much yet to learn in cavalry, mounted work, and in the proper horsing of their artillery, which moves slowly in action. Tk^y were slow to use the railway abandoned by the Russians, even though the lines and bridges were left uninjured. 1 ' "The strict discipline of the army is,"' adds Colonel Hoad, "noticeable. There is no drunkenness, and very little crime, j Everything is so orderly that it was hard at timss to believe there was an army m the vicinity. Amongst the headquarters staff the absence of excitement ahd display was most marked, both in the camps and on the battlefield. There waa" no show of flags denoting the headquarters of the General or bther officers, and all ranks were incpii-cd by their example. The Japanese soldier maintains his reputation as a descendant of a race of fighting men of several centuries. He has both energy, endurance, and remarkable marching powers. Though at times shoeless and short of rations, he made no complaints of these drawbacks. He is also possessed of great courage, and when wounded seldom allows an expression of pain to escape him. He is brave in action, and will readily follow his officers."