CADET-TRAINING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1624, 29 April 1919, Page 7 (Supplement)

CADET-TRAINING.

THE NEW SCHEME. DEMONSTRATION AT CHRIST'S COLLEGE.* . A radical change in the scheme of Cadet training will come into operation on a general scale from June 1. This system has already been introduced, so far as Canterbury is concerned, in connection with the Christ's College Cadets, whose annual "bfrracks" is now in a progress. A Sun representative was able to witness its initiation at a special parade yesterday, which was under the control of its originator, Lieutenant-Colonel J. L t Sleeman, 1.G.5., Director of Military Training, and directly supervised by Captain A. W. Brocks, M.C., Chief Physical Training Instructor for the Dominion. At the time of the visit, physical training, which is the feature of the scheme, was in progress. The lads, looking particularly. workmanlike in shorts and shirt-sleeves, were drawn up in widely-spaced Hues, forming a square. About 300 were on parade. The exercises were based on those practised at Trentham during the past two years. Their distinctiveness from the old laborious np-in-the-morning-before-breakfast- exercises' is in the "zip" necessary for their performance, and the manifest zest which their carrying out engenders. Most of them were really in the nature of a game, and others frankly so. "O-varl" and 300 boys turned somersaults. Another sharp . command and one line leap-frogged over the other, or the odd-numbers swiftly raced round the even ones. '' Tchun! • > and the boys leaped to their, places, in a breathless haste not to be last and thus catch the instructor's eye. "Alertness is what we aim at; the physical,side really..comes after that,'-? remarked Lieutenant-Colonel Sleeman. Indeed, "all the exercises'were calculated to bring-out this, quality and encourage quick thinking. A "barked" order, and the Cadets streamed off in apparent confusion. But two seconds later found them marshalled in little circles, each comprising a section under a non-com. They were how in position for the "games." These commenced without preliminaries ot delay. A section leader srung a weighted . rope -in a horizontal circle, and the. lads jumped to ■ clear the whirling object, which threatened their ankles. Another section played "fill-the-gap," and so on. The fun was at its height when a sharp order broke in,, and the cadets rushed back to their, physical drill positions. So the inculcation of "alertness" went on. As explained by Lieut.-Colonel Sleeman, the idea is to drop some of the purely military side, and substitute the physical, the subjeet being made as interesting as possible. In addition there is a serious attempt to mould character, to a large extent based on the truth that a healthy body pieans a healthy mind. Lieut.-Colonel Sleeman stated that up to 1916 there had been no syllabus of cadet training in existence, consequently eadet companies were found in varying degrees of efficiency. The 1916 syllabus divided cadet training into four parts corresponding with the four years' of service. In each part, however, three subjects were included—musketry, physical drill and infantry training. The work being thus divided, 12 instructors were necessary, and experience had proved the difficulty of any company training properly under such circumstances. The intention of the 1916 syllabus was to train cadets so that they could enter the Territorial Force as trained recruits. It had been found, however, that the chief value of the Territorial Force I as at present constituted, was for feeding the Expeditionary Force. It was common sense to expect a better scheme of training would be framed on the return of the Expeditionary Force. Acting on thie assumption, he had devised the new cadet syllabus, which aimed not so much at imparting military training—which was left more to the Territorial Force—as at giving physical and character training. Consequently the new syllabus was divided into four parts, corresponding not with the age of the cadet, but with the standard of eflV ciency. For drill purposes each cadet eompany would be divided into two main parts. These would consist respectively of first and second year cadets and third and fourth year cadets, who would interchange subjects during each drill of one and a half hours duration. For instance, at his first parade a cadet would perform 35 minutes physical training, and 35 minutes of the other subjects, whilst ho would receive a lecture for 10 minutes on patriotism, good citizenship, or some other subject likely to be of benefit. The manner in which this proportion of instruction was managed was as follow: a first year cadet would do musketry; a second year cadet physical training; a third year cadet infantry training; and a fourth year cadet physical training. At the expiration of 35 minutes tho first year men would interchange with the second year men, and the third with the fourth for another 35 minutes. By this system, instead of a company requiring 12 instructors, it would heed two for physical training, one for musketry and one for infantry training. The new scheme, in actual operation, had been found eminently suitable for town cadets. It was not pretended to meet the whole of the difficulty as coni cerned country cadets, as it was. irh'possible to carry out the training of outlying units with any degree of satisfaction unless they coulcl attend regular parades. . . 1 Commenting on the work of the iChrist's College Cadets, Lieut.-Colonel Sleeman paid a high, tribute to tho discipline, intelligence, and soldierly qualities of the lads; There were nofctthe Baine num. ber of senior lads tljis year, so that some of the more advanced work practised last year would, not be carried