NEW REGULATIONS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1910, Page 9

NEW REGULATIONS.

JUNIOR CADETS AND BOY SCOUTS. SOME INTERESTING INNOVATIONS. The new regulations for the organisa. tion and training of the junior cadets are gazetted. The junior cadets are to be composed of (a) a cadet branch— battalions, companies, detachments, and cadet officers' training units, and (b) a Boy Scouts' branch — battalions, troops, and patrols. A larger corps than a battalion may be organised with the approval of the Minister. In localities where proper supervision can be obtained, each battalion in either branch of the cadets may form a section of field ambulance. The establishment of a cadet branch is to bo aa follows : — Detachment, 1 lieutenant', 2 sergeants, 2 corporals, 1 bugler, and from 10 to 48 privates ; company, 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 1 colour-sergeant, 4 sergeants, 4 corporals, 2 buglers, and from 48 to 80 privates; battalion staff, 1 major, or higher rarut such as O.C. Battalion holds in the Defence Forces, 1 adjutant/, 1 quartermaster, 1 sergeant-major, and 1 quarter-master-sergeant ; cadet officers' training unit, 1 captain, 2 lieutenant*, 1 coloursergeant, 4 sergeants, 4 corporals, 2 bugler*., and all male students at the college; section of field ambulance, I captain, 1 sergeant-major, 2 sergeants, 2 corporals, 1 bugler, and 40 privates. Where there are fes« than 15 boys of the required age at any rchool, a patrol of Scout.* shall be formed in lieu of a squad of cadet". instructors will be provided as is considered necessary. .In regard to the formation of units, the head-teachers of all Echools shall forthwith send in a Hat of boys available for training to the commandant of the cadet*, where there is now no endeb unit he shall also recommend teachers for appointment as officers. Not lens than one hour a week shall be net aside for military training at the school*. Public school cadets are to become junior cadets on the commencement of the regulations. Officers are to be responsible for the maintenance of good order and discipline. Attempts to obtain favourable considerotion of any application by use of outside influence are strictly forbidden. METHODS OF PROMOTION. Tho commandant is to hold a commission on the general staff of the defence forces. All male teachers on the staffs of any public school are liable to act as officers. If a teacher is transferred he »hal! be placed on tho unattached list pending a vacancy. Promotion shall, except in special case*, bo given according to seniority, but in the interests of units and corps it may be necessary to appoint or promote officer* who are not next in seniority or who have not served in the lower rajiks. Social position and other considerations are not to be taken into account. Opportunity of appointment is to be open to all cadets. Fitness may be tested in examination. Promotion shall be made in similar manner to appointments where more than one candidate in the same rank is available; in other cases senioiity shall be considered. Instructors are to be appointed. Their duty hhall be to instruct units and corps, but their special fnnction will be in regard to the training of officers, who eventually will become in turn instructors of their own units and corps. TRAINING FOR THE CADETS. Training is to be in accordance with & syllabus. The greatest latitude is to be given to officers commanding the units and corps in giving effect to the spirit of the syllabus, always remembering that the military training is to be co-ordinated with the general educational system, and to that end the co-operation of headteachers is rouglit. On days that are unsuitable for outdoor work, equads and companies may be taken back into school and instruction given in any of the following subjects : — Lecttans on discipline, with examples from history ; lecture on Empire, lecture on the history, possessions, and how to fly the Union Jack ; a demonstration of aiming at a blackboard, using^ a sandbag on the table or desk on which to rest the rifle; how to make simple and useful knots ; use of maps ; making conventional signs ; methods of ambushing ; the prismatic compass, or magnetic compass. In all cities and towns where there I are two or more companies close toi gether, at least two battalion parades 6hall be held in each year; in other cases as specially authorised. No company shall be permitted to attend battalion camps unless it is proficient in company training. Battalion and compauy training camps shall not be compulsory. At company camps training will be based on the following syllabus, which is subject to variation :—Physical training, musketry instruction, company drill, skirmishing exercises designed to develop the powers of observation, judging distances of objects, finding one's way about by day or nigbt, use of the magnetic compass, use of maps, rendering first aid to the best of any situation J.hat plight arise, erecting tents, signalling, signs, and scouting, etc. The musketry course and annual allowance of ammunition shall be in accordance with the target practice regulations. Uniforms and equipment shall be ibsiwd free to all units and corps in lieu of the payment of capitation. Goveuinwnt pioperty is not to be allowed outside the school oxeppt for parades. Units at present in possession of uniforms will continue to use them so long as they are serviceable. The new pattern will be brought into use gradually as the old uniforms become worn out. Uniforms shall be worn by all officeiu on all occasions when the cadets are in uniform. Badges of rank in metal may bo worn. The present pattern sword and brown sling belt shall continue to be worn. Boy Scouts who are also members of the cadet unit shall wear cadet uniform when parading, but will be entitled to weai their badges. A pass in military training Is to exempt candidates from portion of the teachers' examination. There are to be regulations in connection with miniature cartridge ranges. Their establishment on or near school grounds sJiall be encouraged, and a subsidy of 5 for £ granted. Where it is possible to obtain the uso of a miniature range in a drillshed within easy distance of a school, it should be "done. At each of tlu> training colleges there may be established cadet officers' training units rom posed of all mule students attending the colitis. BOY SCOUTS. The Minister may, on the recommendation of the commandant of cadets, sanction the formation of a patrol or troup of scouts in lieu of a cadet unit at any school, provided that the unit shall be under the entire control of the Minister. Units, including their officers, shall bo subject to the regulations for the junior cadet branch, provided that their training shall be. in accordance with the text book "Scouting for Boys," with the addition of miniature cartridge shooting, where possible. Units belonging to

the Boy Scouts' organisation, composed of boys between 10 and 16, when recognised, filial] form a special branch of the junior cadets. Scoutmasters may be junior cadet officers, or they may be persons who, being officers of the Boy Scouts' organisation, may be approved. It may be permissible for a scoutmaster to remain a member of the Boy Scout organisation and carry on the instruction of the boys independently of his duties an officer attached to the junior cadets. W,h,ere a acout-master is liable to compulsory service, his work as an instructor of the boy scouts may be accepted as part of his military service. Scouts shall recoive the same amount of military training in the cadet branch as is 'prescribed for that branch, except in, the case of units at small schools. Boy S«outs are to be classified into : First-class scouts, second-class scouts, and scouts. The examination for the two former classes shall be voluntary, and boys may present themselves for additional examinations ' for badges of merit. Boy Scouts arp to be subject to the rnles of the cadet branch when in camp or on parade. In camps of training the scout* shall be billeted together. Those scouts at present in possession of uniforms shall continue to wear them at special scout parades. Scouts shall be trained in scout law, signs, and saluting. They shall be taught to know tho position of the Union Jack and the right way of flying it; to tie any four of the following knot*: R*ef, sheet head, clove hitch, bow line, middleman's, fisherman's, sheep shank ; to have an elementary knowledge of the Morse or semaphore signalling alphabet; and know tho sixteen principal points of tho compass.