THE MILITARY FORCES OF QUEENSLAND. 
395 
will be admitted that these results are most creditable to all concerned. 
The Queensland Government only allows the Defence Force fourteen 
days’ training during the year, including the six days taken up by the 
annual camp ; and up to this limit each man receives pay according to 
the number of day’s work he puts in; they can, and many do, put in 
more drills than this allowance, but, if so, they receive no extra pay for 
it. There is also an allowance given to cover the expenses of uniform. 
The Volunteers, as at home, get no pay, but they receive a capitation 
allowance. The six days of the camp, while they of course form an in¬ 
dispensable portion of the training, are not so much a time of instruc¬ 
tion as an occasion for putting into practice the teaching received during 
the year. There remain, therefore, eight days made up of scattered 
hours distributed through the twelve months, in which officers and men 
whether of the Artillery or Infantry, are expected to acquire a sufficient 
knowledge of their different branches, to be able to offer an efficient 
resistance to any invading force which may be landed in the Colony. 
To say this is merely another way of stating that there is still somewhat 
left to be desired in the efficiency of the Force, but the wonder is that 
with all the disadvantages so much excellent work is done. Fortunately 
the unremitting labours of the Staff in their endeavours to make bricks 
without straw are backed up by a zeal and ardour among the officers 
and men of the force which are beyond all praise. As an instance of 
this keenness I may state the fact that, when a few years ago the 
Government for reasons of economy withdrew the annual camp allow¬ 
ance, the Force turned out and did four days’ continuous training at 
their own expense. 
As I have said, each man is allowed fourteen days’ training by Gov¬ 
ernment, that is to say, he is given pay for fourteen days' work at the 
rate of 8/- a day, or about the ordinary wages of a working man, if he 
has attended a sufficent number of days to make up that time, eight 
hours’ work being reckoned as one day. In order to qualify for efficien¬ 
cy he must have done eighty hours of drill, of which at least three days 
must have been spent at the annual camp. To enable men to fulfil 
these conditions, or to exceed them if they wish, evening parades are 
held twice a week during the drill season, and afternoon parades about 
once a fortnight, making a total of about eighty evening and twenty 
daylight parades during the year. As a matter of fact it almost in¬ 
variably happens that a man does a great deal more work than is necess¬ 
ary to qualify him for his fourteen days’ pay, and it is evident that that 
parsimonious spirit which might lead some men to do just sufficient 
drill to secure their pay, and no more, is quite unknown to the Force. 
I found the proof of this in looking through one of the efficiency 
returns selected quite at random; it was a report on one of the Field 
Batteries, and I found that amongst them all, officers, non-commission¬ 
ed officers and men, there was only one man who could be said to have 
steered at all close to the wind in this respect; all the rest had done 
just about double the number of drills required by the regulations, or 
in other words, had given their services free to Government for some 
fourteen days. The one solitary exception had indeed exceeded his 
fourteen days’ drill, though only by a narrow margin, but that he too 
