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1901. NEW ZEALAND.

DEFENCE FORCES OF NEW ZEALAND (REPORT ON THE), BY COLONEL A.P. PENTON, R.A., COMMANDANT OF THE FORCES.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Sir,— Ist September, 1901. I have the honour to forward for the information of His Excellency the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the New Zealand Forces, my annual report on the defence forces of the colony. The past year has been a memorable one in the military annals of the colony. Our men in South Africa have maintained the high reputation the New Zealand soldiers earned during the first year of the war, and those now on active service are worthy successors to the men who fought and served so well during the earlier phases of the war. Practically the whole of the first five contingents have returned to the colony, and the Sixth and Seventh Contingents, to the number of 1,175 are still in Africa. These latter contingents were armed, equipped, and horsed entirely at the expense of the Imperial Government, and no horses were sent with them from the colony. On the invitation of the New South Wales Government, a detachment of seventy-three mounted rifles was sent over to Sydney to attend the Commonwealth celebrations in January of this year, and for the first time in history troops representing all the Australasian Colonies were brigaded together. Our men bore themselves very well, and excited much interest, especially the Maori portion of the troops. They were treated with the greatest kindness, and the military authorities did all in their power to make the men comfortable. Unfortunately, owing to trie great demand for horses at the time, bur men were not as well mounted as they might have been, but the cost of transport of horses to Australia was too great to allow of the troops taking over their own horses. An Imperial representative corps, and a mixed corps of Indian officers and non-commissioned officers, were sent by the Imperial and Indian Governments to attend the Commonwealth celebrations in Sydney in January last, and during the month of February these corps visited the colony. They were heartily welcomed by the people of New Zealand at each place they visited, and I am sure all officers and men will long remember with pleasure the friendly and cordial reception accorded to them. The Government sanctioned the concentration of our Volunteers at each place visited by these troops, so that as many of our men as possible should see the trained and disciplined troops. This had an excellent effect on the forces as a whole, and many of them saw for the first time the result of systematic military training. The officer commanding the Imperial troops very kindly gave military displays whenever an opportunity offered, which were much appreciated by both Volunteers and civilians. The way in which the mounted corps and individual officers came forward with their horses to mount the Imperial cavalry and artillery, and the Indian cavalry, was worthy of all praise. Our Volunteers did all that lay in their power to make the stay of the guests a pleasant one, and a feeling of camaraderie sprang up between Imperial, Indian, and Colonial soldiers worthy of the army of the Empire. A detachment of forty-three mounted men and 171 dismounted men, representing all arms of the service, attended the celebrations in Melbourne in connection with the opening of the Federal Parliament. Again they were treated with the greatest consideration and kindness. A special train was provided to take them from Sydney to Melbourne and back, and excellent arrangements were made by the Victorian military authorities for feeding the men on the journey. The men compared most favourably in physique and drill with all the other colonial troops. The New Zealanders were included in my brigade in the reviews at both Sydney and Melbourne, and carried themselves so as to be a credit to the colony. Till this year the New Zealand Volunteers had had practically no chance —with the exception of those engaged on active service in Africa—of seeing other troops than those of their own colony, and the result of the visit of the Imperial and Indian troops to the colony, and of our troops to Australia, will, I hope, raise a spirit of rivalry and a wish to excel, which must be a benefit to the whole force. During the visit of their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of York to New Zealand all district troops were concentrated in the headquarters of districts to take part in the celebrations. In each centre there was an excellent muster of Volunteers, and His Royal Highness, before leaving the colony, was kind enough to express to me his satisfaction at the way in which all the military

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