KAITANGATA TERRITORIALS.

Clutha Leader, Volume XLII, Issue 89, 16 May 1916, Page 5

KAITANGATA TERRITORIALS.

I TO THE EDITOR. 'Sir, —In my notes of May 3 I gave to readers a statement of affairs as it came to me, not by anyone connected with territorials or cadets, but by persons who have actually heard the complaints stated by cadets themselves. J expected that some steps might be taken by responsible ollicers to fulfil the duties required of them when they have invested in them the authority to bring to a higher state of efficiency the present chaotic condition of affairs in their relation to military training at Kaitangata. I simply threw the proverbial sprat and a greater than a mackeral has been well hooked. Jt is very much to be deplored that "One Who Has Offered'' is not imbued .with suflicient courage to attach his name to his letter of Jlay li'. Are tiie cadets of Kaitang;ita a lot of insubordinate young cubs? •My reply is that the Kaitangata cadets are on a par with the cadets of every other town within the Dominion when they are permitted to act as they please, and not as a capable officer would have them act. If the cadets are cubs to

"One Wlio Has Offered,'' they are yet cadets to me. Will I help them by championing them.' I state emphatically, Yes. The help must assuredly '-onie through their officers enforcing strict discipline, and I unhesitatingly state that that discipline must ami will be enforced almost immediately; if not by the present ollicers, then by others better qualified to take their places. A young officer may be fighting a good fight when he essays to control a body of cadets, but without the constant watchful eye of a capable senior officer to assist a junior simply becomes a martyr to his own weakness. I may state ere 1 conclude this letter that at the time of writing my notes of Way 5 I did not know any of the ollicers belonging to the, cadets unless they were pointed out to me, but since reading the letter of "One Who Ila.s Offered" I have become more, familiar with military matters generally in this town, and now state fearlessly that the condition of affairs demands an inquiry.—l am etc., JAML'S C. S'HORK, Kaitangata Correspondent G.L. May 15,-1916.