A.—6b

1901. NEW ZEALAND.

CADETS AT ROYAL REVIEW: REPORT ON THE MOBILISATION OF THE CADETS FOR THE ROYAL REVIEW AT CHRISTCHURCH ON THE 24th JUNE, 1901, BY CAPTAIN L.W. LOVEDAY, COMMANDING THE BRIGADE.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Sib,— Wellington, Ist July, 1901. I have the honour to inform you that in accordance with the directions contained in your letter of the 27th May last, to proceed to the mobilisation of the various corps of cadets in the Volunteer Districts of Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury, Otago, and Southland, I communicated with the various secretaries of the Education Boards and officers commanding corps in the abovenamed districts on the 23th May, as follows :— " Premier desires me to ascertain the number of all ranks of cadets in connection'with the schools in your district, distinguishing those in uniform and those not, with a view to their proceeding to Christchurch. Minimum height, four feet six inches, excepting boys who are officers or non-commissioned officers. The information is required immediately so as to arrange for transport, housing, and rationing. These will be found by Government." Similar requests were sent to officers commanding cadet corps already established in connection with the State schools and otherwise. As the time at my disposal was limited I was unable to visit the various districts, but managed to get to Wanganui, Napier, and Christchurch. At the two latter places I inspected several cadet corps, with pleasing results. While at Christchurch, I arranged, through the instrumentality of Mr. Hardy, M.H.R., who is a member of the Education Board, for the quartering of the cadets at the Normal School, which was readily placed at my disposal by the Board, and from the measurements made by Mr. D. Schofield, the officer in charge of the Public Works Department there, and to whom I am indebted for making all arrangements for the comfort of the cadets, there would have been ample space to have quartered the number which had been notified me up to that time; but on my return to Wellington I found this had increased considerably, and I feared that I would have some difficulty in procuring extra sleeping accommodation in order to carry out your wish to "Let them all come." But, thanks to Mr. Schofield's energy, the difficulty was got over, as he procured the consent of the Chairman of the East and West Schools Board for the use of their schools, with the approval of the Education Board, and thus all ranks were comfortably housed. The rationing, however, had to be carried out at the Normal School, to which place the cadets marched for their meals. These were served in relays of about seven hundred at a time. I tasted the food, and found it wholesome and well cooked. The following was the bill-of-fare, which I considered more satisfactory than the scale of daily rations which had been adopted prior to my arrival at Christchurch, which consisted of 31b. meat, I£lb. bread, 1 lb. potatoes, lib. vegetables, &c.—too much for any cadet. Rations served to Cadets at Normal School. Breakfast: Bread, coffee, jam and marmalade, butter; meat—sausages, stew, steak, chops, and tripe. Lunch: Bread, tea, jam and marmalade, butter, cheese and biscuits; meat—cold mutton and beef. Dinner: Bread, tea, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and onions; meat—roast beef, corned beef, and roast mutton. Copies of the following orders were sent to officers commanding corps, with directions to issue a copy to every one of his command for their guidance : — Memorandum for Officers Commanding Cadet Corps. A copy of the orders, sent herewith, is to be given personally to each cadet who is proceeding to Christchurch for his guidance, so that he cannot plead ignorance regarding any of them. The Eailway-pass is to be filled up by the officer in charge of the cadets, and to set forth the number of first- and second-class tickets which will be required—the former for officers, and the latter for the rank and file. I—A. 6b.