The Boer War exposed the deficiencies in British doctrine and the neglect and inadequacies of Dominion military capacities. After British forces withdrew from the Antipodes and Newfoundland in 1870 and Canada in 1871, military expenditure and reform were left in relative abeyance. Given the experience of the British Army during the New Zealand Wars, the North-West Rebellion, and the striking similarities between Maori, Métis/Cree and Boer tactics, New Zealand Prime Minister Richard Seddon made reference to the New Zealand campaigns of the 1860s. He believed that the British should have adopted modifications, based on Boer threats, similar to those applied against Te Kooti in New Zealand: ‘What is wanted in South Africa at the present time, is some more Von Tempskies [sic].’ Seddon also claimed that, had 5,000 well-trained Maori warriors been dispatched to South Africa under their own war chiefs, the Boers would have been defeated much earlier. Similarly, Aborigine Matthew Kropinyeri remarked to his protector in 1914 that:

Between 1904 and 1912, as a consequence of the Boer War, all Dominions enacted new, or amended, national defence acts which drastically altered the structure of their military forces. Included in these new policies were directives pertaining to force strength, mandatory militia and cadet training, compulsory combatant service in times of war, and specific clauses referring to those segments of society not eligible for volunteer or mandatory service, including indigenous men. The clauses specifically mentioning or encompassing indigenes varied, depending on the circumstance and needs of the individual Dominions.