FICERS.
_Photo. lent by Mr. E. L. Mitchell, Perth._]

On the 23rd April Lieutenant-Colonel H. B. Collett was appointed to the
command. This officer had formerly commanded the 11th Australian
Infantry Regiment and the 88th Infantry Battalion (both of the Citizen
Forces) in Perth, and had had considerable experience in military
training, administration, and organisation. His first consideration was
the selection and appointment of officers and non-commissioned officers,
and the formation of the specialist detachments which were to be an
integral and important part of the Battalion.

In the selection of officers little discretionary power was allowed the
Commanding Officer. A Selection Board, appointed by the Minister for
Defence, and sitting at Perth, recommended appointments. Very often this
was done without a full knowledge of the candidate or of his
qualifications. Under such circumstances some friction was bound to
occur between the Board and the Commanding Officer. Eventually, however,
it was possible, by means of compromise and adjustment, to gather
together a reasonably sound team of officers. Major C. R. Davies, an
officer of the 84th (Goldfields) Infantry, and a barrister of Boulder,
became Second-in-Command. Captains A. W. Leane, L. B. Welch, and J. A.
C. Wilson were promoted to the rank of Major and appointed to companies.
A fifth major--F. R. Jeffrey--was transferred from Victoria and took "B"
Company. This last-named officer, like the Second-in-Command, had seen
service in South Africa, and had recently returned from England, whither
he had conducted a draft of Imperial Reservists. A number of junior
officers were found from the N.C.Os. attending a school of instruction
for candidates for commissions. In the following years most of these men
did exceedingly well. One of them commanded the Battalion during the
major portion of 1917.

The selection and appointment of non-commissioned officers was a process
of a different kind. With a large body of men unused to military
formations and methods, the urgent need was to find other men who had
had some slight experience and could teach the raw material routine and
system and show it its place in the ranks. It did not, however, follow,
that the same men, with their slight experience, were so equipped
mentally and physically as to render them efficient leaders and
commanders in the field. Another factor to be borne in mind was that
from the ranks of the N.C.Os. wou