JUNIOR CADETS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1348, 27 January 1912, Page 5

JUNIOR CADETS.

CAPTAINS AND MAJORS TO ORDER. j NO COMMISSIONS. COMIC OPERA OFFICERS. (By Senior Sub.) Conundrum for the Junior Cadet Department :— Q.—When is an officer not an officer ? ■ A.—When he is a captain or a major. 1 A fow days ago I stated certain facts, and expressed certain opinions about tho Junior Cadet Department, in an article which was published in The Dominion. Since that article appeared, certain'facts have come to the surface which ought to be made public. They amplify the answer to the conundrum which appears at the head of this article. Consider, for a moment, the organisation of the Junior Cadet Corps. That will clear ground. The Junior Cadets of the Wellington city and suburban district, to select a convenient illustration, are organised into four battalions, each consistof so many companies. Each company is officered by a captain and two lieutenants, with a colour-sergeant, four sergeants, and four corporals, in the noncommissioned ranks. Each battalion staff consists of a major commanding, and an adjutant. Junior cadet officers are appointed from tho teaching staffs of the schools—"all male teachers on tho staffs of schools are liable to act," states the regulations bearing on this point—and provision is made for the training of junior cadot officers at the various teachers' training colleges. Appointments are made on recommendation by specified persons. Tho Chain of Command. Since in the battalion there is a complete chain of authority, from the major commanding down tu the most junior lieutenant, this chain of authority involves a fixed law of precedence, which is constituted as follows— (i.) The precedence of officers is determined as followsThoso holding substantive commissions in the Defence Forces shall take seniority of all officers holding acting and honorary appointments in tho same rank. (.ii.) The precedcnce of other officers is determined by their rank, and the dates of their appointments to that rank; officers of tho Samo rank aud appointment to that rank on the same date, by the date of their next lower rank, substantive commissions taking seniority over all other commissions and appointments. (iii.) If seniority is still undetermined it shall be decided by an examination, unless the parties agree to draw lots. If either party refuses to undergo a test examination, or to draw lots, the other party shall become tho senior officer. A rigid procedure is laid down for the redress of grievances, aud for tho constitution and conduct of courts of inquiry convened to hear evidence concerning grievances aiul charges. Every officer is required to parado in uniform when his company is in uniform. Badges of rank—second lieutenant, one star; lieutenant, two stars; captain, three stars; major, . a crownare worn at tho shoulder-straps, as in the Territorial Force, while officers holding substantial commissions in tho Reservo of Officers wear in addition tho letter "It" below their rank badges. Also, the officers are equipped with swords and bolts. / What of the Cunundrum? Now, all this would appear to stultify tho answer to the conundrum which prefaces tho article. B.v all the rules and regulations of tho Junior Cadet Depart-' tuont, duly gazetted, a junior cadet officer,, with ,his. uniform, sword, and belt, rank.badge,..would appear to ho invested with tho pomp, circumstance, and status requisite lor the dignify of his authority. And as if to finally clinch the question to the satisfaction of all concerned, it is provided in the Dcfenco Act itself (Section 47), that: "Officers in the Junior' Cadets, or Senior Cadets, shall be permitted to present thomselves for examination. ' 1 in tho subjects prescribed for the examination of officers in tho Territorial force, or such other examinations as may from time to time be proscribed ; and, if thoy pass such examination, may be granted substantive commissions by the Governor and bo included in the Reserve of Officers." Further, to cucourago Junior Cadot officers to take advantage of the above section, tjlio cadet regulations say, under tho heading of "examinations, schools of instruction, lectures, etc.": Officers in tho Junior Cadets may, if they so desiro, and are to ba encouraged to, present themselves for examination for their ranks. . . . Tho syllabus of examination shall be as for officers in the same rank in tho Territorial Force, except that all questions relating to organisation, discipline, and regulations will refer to tho organisation, discipline, and regulations of tho Junior Cadots. . . . Officers shall, with the consent of tho Council of Defence, bo permitted to attend and receive instruction at any camp or school of instruction or lectures arranged for tho general training section or territorial force, or part thereof; aud while so attending shall receive tho same privileges and allowances, hut not pay, as officers in tho same rank and appointment in the Territorial Force. . .■. A teacher or a of a cadet officers' training unit who passes the examination prescribed in the syllabus for the rank of lieutenant or for the rank of captain shall receive credit therefor in the manner prescribed in the regulations for teachers' certificates. Promise and Fulfilment. Clearly, the express intention of tho Legislature, as set out in tho Dcfonco Act and amplified by the regulations of tho Junior Cadot Department, was to concede to the leachor-officers an opportunity of qualifying, for commissions, and so divesting themtjolvcs of tho comic opera rank which was handed out to them with their uniforms, their stars, their swords and bolts; of parading in uniform at functions where regimental officers wero present without experiencing the humiliations which their comic opera rank exposed them to; and of relieving regimental and staff officers of tho

imitation created by'tho spectacle of uniformed teachers who, in a military sense, were to them what a spurious sovereign is to the real tiling. The fundamental objection which teacher-officers had to the wearing of tho uniform at all was that it clothed them with a status which, they were perfectly aware, they had no military right to, and this objection was met with a promise that they would be given an opportunity of qualifying by examination for the privilege of wearing the King's uniform as a matter of right. Section 47 of the Defenoe Act was, in effect, the fulfilment of that promise—to bo strictly precise, it purported to be the fulfilment. It is well known, and the authorities noed not waste .any breath in denying the fact, that the section ■ referred to was incorporated in the Act on the suggestion of Captain T. W. M'Donald, District Adjutant, afterwards appointed Commandant of tho Junior Cadet 1 ! with the rank of major _ What, actually, is tho position? On Page 21 of tho Regulations for the Military Forces of New Zealand, Section IV, Paragraph 77, it is laid down that "commissions will bo of three kinds": (1) Commissions in tho New Zealand Staff Corps and Royal New Zealand Artillery. . (2) Commissions in the Territorial Force. (3) Direct Commissions in the Reserve of Officers (in the rank of lieutenant onlv), for specially qualified Junior Cadet officers. A Delusion and a Snare. The captains and tho majors of tho Junior Cadets are left lamenting. For them a military rank which can never be anything but spurious, anything but conrie opera. They cannot get commissioned rank. Section 47 of the Defence Act is a delusion and a snare, and the fine regulations of the Junior Cadet De, p.-irt.ment a miserable sham. Tho Defence Regulations were gazetted on May 5, 1911, some months after tho passing of tho Act which they interpreted. On Moy 16 an examination was hold to glvn dtixon ofllcern nn opportunity of nnulifrvig £fli certificate oi rani, fpfatHnj

thorn to commissions, and two months bftfore that two junior cadet officers—company commanders, with eomo years' practical experience in a mounted regimentapplied for permission to sit for the examination, under Section 47 of tho Act. They were informed that they would bo allowed to present themselves. On May 5, tho Defence Regulations were gazetted. On May 11, a circular memorandum from General Headquarters intimated to tho district commanders that there would be no qualifying examinations for junior cadet officers till November. Two days before tho May examination tho officers under mention were informed that they could not sit for the examination. When tho annual meeting of tho Teachers' Institute was in session at Timaru a fow months ago, one of those officers tabled tho following motion:— "That the attention of the Minister for Education bo called to the fact that, though provision is made in tho Defence Act to allow officers of tho junior cadets to sit for, and, if successful, to be granted, substantivo commissions, the Defence Department has refused to examine officers who havo applied for permission to sit." Tho motion was declared lost on the voices, but on tho mover calling for a division, ho found that ho had tho sup., port of 32 delegates, as against 18 who declared in the negative. Next day tho minutes, on being road, were found to havo recorded tho fact that the motion was lost on tho voices. Tho mover protested, and tho matter was rectified. The motion was not reported in the press, and now sees daylight for the first time. A Grotesque Parody, ! When oue considers the actual extent— not the extent implied by the junior cadet regulations—of the military responsibility and duties of tho junior cadet officers, one feels that tho military authorities are quite justified in limiting, as they have done, tho scope of tho concession which the statute has provided. It would be a farce to grant a captain's commission to the commander of a junior cadet company, and more than a farco to confer substantivo field rank upon a junior cadet battalion commander. The whole system of clothing junior cadet officers with tho garb of military pomp and circumstance is a grotesque parody of tho real tiling, and the sooner the finale of this comic opera is heard the belter for all concerned. I think I have justified the answer to the conundrum.