THE INTERESTS OF COMMERCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14313, 8 March 1910, Page 7

THE INTERESTS OF COMMERCE

OFFICERS' TRAINING CORPS.

Certainly it is in the interests of the commercial community that young men (and young women, for that matter) should be qualified in all these branches, To realise the ■ importance of this avenue of commercial- education" it is only necessary to remember that when the Panama Canal is opened there must be a great development in the* commerci.il opportunities of Auckland. We want, then, to raise a commercial corps ready and able to grapple with the new condition of things. In London, it may be pointed out, the County Council takes'.the greatest interest in the training of young men in commerce. They give certificates to the proficient, and many firms pledge themselves to employ only ■ such' as may hold those certificates. : The college is laying the foundation of a similar system in Auckland. 1 '~ Hand in . hand with: the modern movement at the j college is the < comparatively recent establishment of an 'officers' training corps. Each of the university centres is . initiating one of these corps, . and in Auckland the preliminary steps have been taken -: to ; ; work fin , conjunction with the College . Rifles. The University Senate has provided a curriculum V for military students. ; It is not proposed to set; up ? military colleges, but, after going through the. university course in the officere' training , corps the military college advocated by Kitchener would be the next, step. The training lo be given at the Auckland University ; College is just - the practical course and the scientific side. On passing it a man "will be fit to go straight to a military college, having learned the science, to acquire a knowledge of the art of : war. , The curriculum ;is designed not to make a man a soldier, but to give him a course -in what might be ; described as practical patriotism.