MILITARY TRAINING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22860, 15 October 1937, Page 13

MILITARY TRAINING

WORK OF SPECIAL SCHOOLS THE TERRITORIAL FORCE [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] WELLINGTON, Thursday "One of the principal innovations in the Government's scheme for the reorganisation of the army consists of the introduction of schools of instruction in each military district for the purpose of • giving additional training to territorial officers, non-commissioned officers and men," said the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, in an interview to-day. "This training is over and above the annual camp and weekend parades. Three schools have been established, one at Narrow Neck camp, near Auckland, one at Trentham camp, and one at Burnham camp, near Christchurch. "Although these school have been established only during the last month they are already promising to be a most successful factor in the training of the territorial soldier, 7 ' said the Minister. "During the last three weeks eight courses of instruction have been held and the numbers who have attended far exceeded expectations. So far the subjects which have been studied are section-leading for both mounted rifles and infantry, heavy machine-gun, rifle and grenade and recruit training. "The three district schools also train the newly-instituted special reserve for the Territorial Force which has been established with the object of ensuring that fortress troops, both artillery and infantry,- have well-trained rank and file capable of being calltd.up instantly for service in the event of a national emergency. There are over 100 special reservists training at the moment, and they will be succeeded by further batches at intervals of approximately three months."