PRESENTATION TO CADETS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20490, 8 March 1932, Page 11

PRESENTATION TO CADETS.

SUCCESS OF TECHNICAL COLLEGE TEAM. \ ' WINNERS OF "THE PRESS" CHALLENGE SHIELD. ' The presentation of The Press Challenge Shield and medals to the Technical College team who won the South Island competition for shooting teams of 10 secondary school cadets under the age of 17 years was made yesterday by Lieutenant-Colonel &. C. P. Nicholls, D.5.0., N.Z.S.C., O.C. Southern Command. Before making the presentation Lieu-tenant-Colonel Nicholls inspected the cadet company of the college, which was under the command of Captain J. B. Mcßride, and took the salute in the march past. He congratulated the company on its-smart turn-out and its -steadiness, which, he said, was remarkable considering the number of new members in the unit. The marching was also a credit to the officers and non-commissioned officers. Referring to the success of the college shooting team, he remarked that this was the first occasion on which the shield had

been won by a Christchurch unit. He read a letter from Mr A. K. Anderson, headmastdr of St. Andrew's College, teams- from which were second and third in the South Island, congratulating the Technical boys on their performance. The Christchurch Press Company, Limited, had presented two shields, originally designated the "Weekly Press Challenge Shields," one for. competition in Realising howmuch such shooting contests helped to develop esprit-de-corps in the secondary school cadets, the directors of the company had continued the competition after "The Weekly Press'' ceased publication a few years ago, said LieutenantColonel Nicholls. For the champion team of New Zealand a cash prize of £lO accompanied the shield, while each member of the winning team in each Island received a silver medal. The champion team for 1931 was drawn from the A Company, Second Cadet Battalion, Hauraki Regiment, whose average was 85.2 points. Tho second team was from the A Company, Fourth Ca&et Battalion, Canterbury Regiment (Christchurch Technical College), with an average,, of 84.2 points: The general standard of the competition had improved in a marked degree over the results of the previous year, when the winning South Island team had an average score of 80.2 points. Lieutenant-Colonel Nicholls said he understood that the present bandmaster at the college (Mr C. J. Goldstone) had been in charge of the WaimSte Cadets, who won ttye shield on four consecutive occasions from 1907 to 1909. He then presented the medals to the team, which, coached by Captain C. V. Ferris and Staff-Sergeant-Major F. A. Hiscock, consisted of the folowing:— Cadet E C. Claydon, Cadet B. R. Dickie, Cadet R. C. Mahan, Cadet J. F. Pegley, Cadet J. H. Brown. Cadet B. Mercer, Cadet L. Poll, Cadet R. F. Huston, Cadet R. H. Wadman, Cadet L. D. Hepburn. * Three ehceis were given for the team by the . cadet company. The past winners of the. jSouth. Island

Shield are as follows, the competition being held twice in 1907) :■ — _ . 1907 —Waimate District High School. 1907 —Waimate District High School. 1908 —Waimate District High School. 1909 —Waimate District High School. 1910 —Port Chalmers District High School. 1911—Tokomairiro District High' School. 1912 —Marlborough College. 1917 —Marlborough College. 1918-19 —Ashburton High School. 1920—Marlborough College. 1921—Marlborough College. 1922—Nelson College. 1923—Southland Boys' High School. •*" 1924—Dunedin Technical High School. 1925—Dunedin Technical High School. 1926—Nelson College. / 1927—Nelson College.. 1928—Southland Technical College. 1929—C Company; Nelson City Cadets. 1930—Nelson College. 1931—-Christchurch Technical • College. The College's Record. During the period that the Area rifle meetings were held in Christchurch, the Technical College won nearly all the principal trophies., Since then the school has been the only college in New Zealand which has run its own rifle meeting for the past two years, 1930 and 1931. At the Canterbury Area rifle meeting in 1928 the College secured 68 of the 91 prizes and nine of the eleven trophies. In 1929 over half the prizes were secured. The principal trophies helg at present by the College are as follows:—• The Clifford Challenge Cup; the Cadet Challenge Cup (Group IX.), held for three times out of the last four years; the Cadet Teams Challenge Cup (Group IX.), held for three out of the four last years; Defence Rifle Club Cadet Challenge Cup, held for five times in succession; the Recruits' Aggregate Match, first held in 1929. In 1930, at Trentham, a team of five, representing Canterbury, won the New Zealand championship. Three of the members of the team, including the captain, were from the Technical College. In the same year D. Sandford, of the College, reached third place in the championship and first place in the combined plate and snap match. The coaching of the Technical College teams for the past six years'has been ia the-hands of Captain O. Ferrisa.