HALF-DAY PARADES.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160796, 2 November 1920, Page 9

HALF-DAY PARADES.

To tie Editor. Sir,—As an old soldier, I would like to add a t few lines in support of the • grievances aired by “Terrier” and •D o t_l)ot—Dash.” The uniforms, as stated by your two previous correspondents, are certainly unsightly, and the rifles are more or less obsolete; but what I object to is the insufficient" system of military training now in vogue. At the present time the youth of the town are required to attend parades once a week, and in many oases the necessary time can only be spared with difficulty, particularly by those students who are devoting all their/ spare time to study. The present system is both inefficient and costly, involving the Dominion, as it does, in a yearly expenditure of hundreds of thousands of pounds annually. Instead of allowing the training to extend over the lengthy period it does, it would be infinitely better to have two or three camps, at which the boys would ■ receive the whole of their training. Something must be done to, abolish the present state of affairs. In the meantime the boys, and those who take an interest in them, will look forward with keen interest to the new scheme now being evolved by the Defence Department.—l am, etc., WATERLOO.