ORDER OF ST. JOHN

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21685, 20 January 1936, Page 6

ORDER OF ST. JOHN

CHRISTCHURCH CADETS WARMLY PRAISED

inspection by colonel j. l. SLEEMAN The St. John Ambulance. Brigade cadet corps in Christchurch received ■high praise from Colonel J. L. Sleeman; chief commissioner of the .brigade overseas, when he inspected it at the brigade’s headquarters in Peterborough street on Saturday afternoon. ... The cadets were on parade in the yard at the rear of the rooms, and as Colonel Sleeman moved, . among them and watched them giving demonstrations of their work, he passed many complimentary remarks. When addressing the parade later, he said that during the whole of his Empire tour, he had seen no cadet display as good as that which he had seen that afternoon. He was pleased to notice that the corps was composed of the same magnificent type of ‘ boy and girl which had made it up when he was in Christchurch last. Colonel Sleeman went on to tell the cadets that their members in New Zealand numbered more than those in the rest of the Empire outside of the United Kingdom, and that their order looked on them as one of its most important branches. In praising their first aid work, Colonel Sleeman said that some that he had* seen was more than comparable with much that was done by adults. An Ancient Order “You are part of a very old and very honourable; order,” he said. “The eight-pointed badge of which we are so proud was instituted in 846 for the same purpose for which it stands to-day. It is the most ancient order of chivalry in the world, and is descended directly from the Crusaders.” To-day it was operating in many countries of the &orld —in India, China, South Africa, Burma, to mention only a few—and every year it gave aid to more than half a million persons. It did its work without payment or. reward, because it knew that its way was the finest way to achieve happiness in life.. Colonel Sleeman presented the Bledisloe Cup to Cadet Sergeant C. B. Macfarlane, of the No. 3 Cadet Ambulance Division. The cup is for ambulance competitions among members of divisions in the Canterbury, Nelson, and West Coast districts. He also presented several members of the brigade.with acknowledgments for Grand Prior’s badges, which are awarded to members when they have won 12 efficiency badges and which Colonel Sleeman described as the most prized badge of the order. The total strength of the parade was 137 in the cadet ambulance division and 80 in the cadet nursing division. ■

Colonel Sleeman is on a visitation to New Zealand from the Grand Priory.