CITIZENS IN THE MAKING

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 260, 3 August 1928, Page 10

CITIZENS IN THE MAKING

VALUE OF CADET TRAINING

ASPECTS OTHER THAN

MILITARY

Tlic value from the point of view of citizenship of cadet training was emphasised by the Minister of Defence (Hon F. J. Rolleston) during the second reading of Mr. J. A. Lee’s Compulsory Military Service Repeal Bill in the House of Representatives yesterTlie Minister explained that the object of the training was to give the boys physical instruction as well as a knowledge of how to hold a rifle. In addition, lectures were given on subjects any member of the House would consider highly desirable. Topics chosen included physical instruction, personal hygiene, observation, memory, self-control, first-aid, patriotism, and citizenship. “That last-mentioned aspect of cadet training is as valuable as any other,” the Minister declared. “Instruction on those lines must be to the good as far as the cadet is concerned. He receives valuable instruction in obedience and discilpine, and would be a great disadvantage to the country if there were no means by which its youth could be taught these qualities. The result of the cadet system is to turn out a boy smart and well disciplined, and to fit him, if necessary, later on to be trained as a soldier. Without that discipline and ground work, training when the occasion arose would indeed be a difficult matter.”