MILITARY TRAINING.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18239, 25 November 1924, Page 8

MILITARY TRAINING.

DEFAULTERS DECREASING. Heeent prosecutions of I"&e citizens to behev o tiiat defenders of the Dominion ero creasing at will be reassured bj tie sn made by Major R, V f.V officer-in-charge of tho Can <n fence District, to a reporter . ''There fe no groat dishko tor military training n ™ ong , a terburv, ho declared ; «»o • J rity ot the trainees A certain numboi, of , distasto for it, but many ni - t | 0 You ought to come round and s<* tU Saturday erenins voluntaij >.. CO. * class, which is regular!} recently GO or SO. Volunteers ttuv ie^nt called for a Guard ot H .°" mir tr t . - U { Governor-General. imd the * ra entailed three oxtm ?• ' th-in but there were more ll "P a T > i were necessary, although tho g consisted of 126 men.' ~n c« /»ii Asked if tho portent of the V 1 options was that military defaulting \\n* •raining in popularity. Major Row snul '"Certainly not, tho number ot defaulters is getting sinallci. lu '; al >\ number of offenders dealt, with at tie Court in the last two months is reallj the 'washings-up' of trainees wno not rendered personal service uiuit k tho last military year, and it. in no way represents the normal numbei prosecutions." . Applications for exemption, tjio Major said, were very few, fill the percentage of defaulters for I|3 months prior to November Ist was less than three. Only lot trainees out of <i total strength of tho 5000 cadets and lolXl Territorials in Christchurch had been prosecuted. The Department did not proseouto a boy without very sound reasons arid without giving him every opportunity. "Wo don't- want to prj>•secuto at all," ho said, "and Ave only do so l when wo are forced by the negligence of tho trainee." \Vhen a boy was shirking, tho Department, wherever possible, tried to get into touch with the employer and bring pressure to bear through liim. In the majority of oases that method was very successful. The parents wero often communicated with, but owing to the amountof clerical work required it was not always possible to do that. Points raised by a. correspondent to "Tho Press" were cleared un bv tho Major. "You can teach a man how to place his feet and let off his rifle in three weeks all right," he sn.id, "but you certainly can't tea*ch him discipline, which is the foundation of all military efficiency." The correspondent had also complained that a cadet had to pay 10s for private medical examination when ho wanted to make application for exemption from training. Major Row stated , that when a boy reached tho age of 18 years lie was called up for posting to the Territorials and warned to attend a medical examination carried out at tho expense of tho State. If ho did not attend, the Department then took it that ho was medically fit .and the onus was on the boy himself to produce his own medical certificate and provo himself unfit. Ho had to pay for missing tlie examination provided by the State.