THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY “Public Service” WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1950 TRAINING FOR YOUTHS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 60, Issue 4342, 11 October 1950, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY “Public Service” WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1950 TRAINING FOR YOUTHS

In drawing attention to the growing strength in .number? of the New Zealand Cadet Corps, the Minister of Defence,Mr Macdonald, has given proper and timely emphasis to its value as a training for youths. To lads in the adolescent and difficult period of life, any influence that can be brought to bear upon the development of sound character is to be welcomed and encouraged. Those who have observed the results achieved by cadet training will heartily agree with the Minister’s.'appreciative comment : #

Cadet training (he says) helps to develop alertness; good bearing, a sense of responsibility, obedience, ability to work in a team and to lead. , These are all qualities of importance in the making of good citizens. Cadet training in New Zealand has been in the past a Victim of conflicting political party policies, and a certain amount erf' public prejudice on the part of people inclined to exaggerate the military side of the system. This was particularly in evidence* when the Kitchener scheme for the establishment of compulsory military training was introduced in 1910. Under this scheme the Senior Cadet Corps was incorporated in the general organisation for training. As subsequent events proved, the corps was a valuable nursery for the Territorial Force, enabling the training of the latter to be accelerated when the loom of the First World War darkened the horizon. Prior to the Kitchener scheme there were cadet units in a number of Secondary schools. With the* change of Government policy after the First World War the Senior Cadets, except in some schools, virtually disappeared as a corps units of the defence system.

It is most encouraging, therefore, to learn that the corps is once again on the up-grade as regards numbers, and it is to be hoped that this progress will be maintained. It may be appropriate again to underline the fact that the most valuable part of cadet training lies in the development of physique and character, as pointed out in the abovequoted statement by Mr Macdonald. In this, the disciplinary routine of life in a cadet unit offers a valuable corrective to the deleterious effects upon char-acter-forming resulting from the cult of juvenile self-expression —a cult which, to judge from recent overseas comment, is becoming largely descredited.