OFFICERS' TRAINING CORPS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17324, 25 May 1918, Page 11

OFFICERS' TRAINING CORPS

A VALUABLE ORGANISATION. TWO ADDRESSES ON ITS WORK. During tho course of the ceremony that was held in the Allen Hall yesterday afternoon, opportunity was taken by tho Chancellor of the University (the Rev. A. Cameron) to present the cups aaid medals .jvon by tho Officers' Training Corps. These trophies wero awarded as follows:—Tho Henderson cup and medal (B examination), Lieutenant L. A. Bennett; tho Ferguson cup and medal (A examination), Company Ser-geant-major E. J. Cronin; tho Roberts oup and medal (ambulance work), Sergeant N. F. Boag's squad. The present membership of the corps is . about 140 young men, all of whom aro medical students, and the training they are receiving should be of the greatest value to them. Even at the close of tho w'ar the movement will possess the greatest value, as the services of medical men aro constantly required in connection with tho Territorial Forces and at camps, etc. Surgeon-general Henderson, in the course of a short address, gavo his hearers much interesting information regarding the Officers' Training Corps and its work. The trophies they had just seen presented, he said, wero challenge cups, the object of which was to stimulate rivalry between the various sections of the field' ambulance which represented the University Training Corps. The object of the corps was to enable medical and dental officers during the course of their studies at the University for degree purposes to obtain at the same timo a knowledge of the military rcquifements, that on the completion of their course they would be able to take up work in the field. At the present timo the medical service had complete control of the evacuation of tho wounded l from field, and in order to do this work the doctors had to be familiar with certain military duties, making it possible for them to command men. That was the object for which the corps had been established—the training of medical men to be officers. Tho speaker paid a high tribute to the Otago University and to tho up-to'-dato manner in which the various lecture rooms and the Medical School in particular were fitted up. These things wero going to be a very big factor in tho futuro of the University, and were going to shed a lustro on Dunedin, such as the University of Edinburgh had spread over that "town of the north. ' Sur-geon-general Henderson also gave a number of instances in which the Otago University had been of service to the Defence Department in the matter of analyses, diagnoses, and_ in the supplying of drugs. Touching again upon tho Officers Training Corps, he said it had made really good progress, and a fine spirit pervaded it. Its officers 'had at all times shown the greatest efficiency, and one and all had had its interests at heart. In the matter of examinations, it had a most successful teoord, 48 members having qualified for tho A andi B certificates out of a total of 60 candidates, and 29 of these having secured the A certificate.. The men who had passed through the corps had also shown the greatest efficiency, and some who had gone Home had been kept in England for only a few days before .joining the forces at the front.—(Applause.) The Director of Military Training (Lieu-tenant-colonel J. L. Sleeman) then addressed those present. In the course of his remarks he stated that ho felt convinced that every person present had relatives at the front, but lie often wondered whether many realised how greatly their lives and comfort depended on their officers. Every profession found it neccssary to commence the training of its members at the very foundation, but, with that of the army, thero existed a tendency to underestimate the value of the initial training of the officer and soldier. Everyone valued the warrior in tho firing line, but most people forgot that ho had previously spent weary months in training before ho got thero. The Officers' Training Corps was first formed in 1908,> and ho (Colonel Sleeman) had had tho honour to bo one of the fivo Imperial officers selected to organise, form, and instruct its contingents. For six of the happiest years of his life he had fulfilled this duty in that delightful country, Ireland. Few understood the Officers' Training Corps movement then, and although three years later 25,000 cadet officers trained in its ranks had marched past the King, it was littlo better appreciated. Yet the day war was declared 11,000 well-trained and certificated officers became immediately available for service with the Imperial and new armies. Tho Officers' Training Corps had sinco fulfilled an invaluable duty. To givo an officer commissioned rank without the necessary knowledge would be synonymous with giving a student a medical degree and permitting him to qualify afterwards by practising on his patients. The university student of to-day found his leisure hours limited, but yet sufficient to give a portion to military training. So. in addition to studying tho subjects of his profession, ho was enabled to work for a commission, and to gain military certificates which would be recognised by_ tho authorities as tokens of military efficiency. Good officers spelt cconomy in both life and treasure in modern war, and it was to be hoped that 'tho Otago Univereity contingent would continue to advance at its present rate, and that its good work would bo better understood and appreciated by all in the dominion. This, he felt assured, would be so, and ho congratulated Otago on having sot such a fine example of foresight in re-establishing such a useful and democratic system for tho futuro supply of medical officers.—(Loud applause.)