BOYS UNDER MILITARY DISCIPLINE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1931, 13 December 1913, Page 9

BOYS UNDER MILITARY DISCIPLINE.

CAMP AT WANGANUI COLLEGE. INTERESTING IMPRESSIONS. At tho invitation or the Rev. .T. L. Dove, headmaster of tlio Wanganui Collegiate School, Major A. C. Tcmperley, general stall ofliver at District Headquarters, Palmerston North, recently commanded a lour days' camp of instruction at tho College. "Tho object of tho camp," says Major Teinperley ill his report, "was to provido four days' continuous instruction in military work, and to produce a real military spirit in tlio school. Every boy at. a secondary school will have to serve later on in tho Territorial Force, and tho secondary schools will form ail excellent material for tho provision of officers. It is, therefore, extremely desirable to creato a real military kcennoss and knowldgo in secondary schools. It is not suggested that this does not already exist, but it can bo only increased nnd developed by continuous instruction, by appealing to tho boys' imaginations nad by carrying out the wholo routino of camp and barrack life. Tlio Dcfenco Department is unable to provido funds to -send senior cadots into camp. The weekly parades do not provido sufficient scopo for instruction and for tlio production of a military spirit. Mr. Dove, therefore, devised this scheme for converting the school, for tho time being, into a military college.

A Courageous Experiment. "The headmaster courageously proposed to hand over tho whole school to my charge, including discipline. I hardly realised at tiio time the immense responsibility Mr. Dovo incurred, but I venture to think that it was justified by results. Ido not believo that the course would have been a quarter so valuablo if I had merely taken over the boys oil parade and ceased to be responsible for anything when they wero dismissed. It is naturally a matter for every headmaster, who makes a similar experiment, to determine, but the method as worked at Wanganui has enormous advantages. I took over thq school daily at revoillo and was responsible for it up to 'lights out.' Anything happening between 'lights out' and 'reveillo' was dealt with by the school staff. Tho boys lived in their own dormitories, and a number of day boys had temporary accommodation in the gymnasium. The hoys had to inako their own beds and keep their own rooms tidv, which were inspected by me after 'revitle.' At 'Tattoo' tho "boys stood to their beds, as in barracks, and tho roll was called in the ordinary way, the orderly sergeants answering on staff parade for their respective companies.

Result a Success. "The routine was worked exactly like a .regiment: ' Tho wdrk was hardseven and a half hours a day, excluding a lecture in tho evening. The first day was exclusively drill and musketry, the second day provided tactical work in tho afternoon, tho third and fourth days were exclusively tactical training, oxcept the usual three-quarters of an hour physical training before breakfast, and one hour's musketry. The enthusiasm ot tho boys for tactical training, of which .they had littlo experience, was remarkable. On my arrival I was told that the boys were uncertain- as to whether they liked the idea, chiefly, perhaps, because they did not 'know what was coming. They passed rapidly from doubt to conviction, and finally to enthusiasm. Of. .their enthusiasm tliero. can bo no doubt,' and it will have, I hope and believo, left a lasting impression, not only on tho boys themselves, but ultimately upon the Territorial Force."

Headmaster's Impressions. ' . In an interesting note on his impressions of tho camp, the headmaster says: — "If compulsory cadet- servico in schools is to be of any real use to the State,' the boys must bo interested in military work. Experience shows that this interest cannot.he created by weekly parades. It requires a camp or an officieutjsnbstitutc. :Tho Government being unable to supply campsfor senior cadet schools,' \Ynngaiiui Collegiato School has tried to find a substitute, and lias been successful. Tho training passed off without a hitch, and was most efficient. Tho headmaster has nothing but praise for it'. Tho success was in great measure duo to tho personality of the officer in command and the excellence of his assistants and of tho "staff sergeants engaged.- To each and all of them tho school owes a' great debt of. gratitude, a debt which it is to bo hoped will in the future bo shared by many more schools in this land.

. . "In thus handing over tho school to a soldier certain difficulties had to bo faced," observes tho headmaster. "They wero easily overcome,' but, when it comes ,to a question of extending tlie system to other schools, they may.becomo: vital and a note of our experience may therefore bo of considerable importance. First stands tho question of discipline. Tho question to bo dedidqd before starting was whether the discipline of the school was, during training to bo military or civil or a hybrid. It would seem easy to hand over tho boys for parades, retaining tho ordinary school disciplino for the rest of the 24 hours; and so it is when tho parade is only a small portion of the day's work. But when parades or lectures make the whole day's- work, tilings are different. 'Ihe ordinary discipline requires masters, but to keep civilian mastors hanging about to correct offences of a military nature is puro folly; when the soldier replaces the master the soldier must have power to enforce liis will, and no one else can do it for him. This, by the way, is the reason why tho importing of an instructor to the 'command of singlo parades in a school is essentially faulty. Tho instructor's function is that of walking reforeiico book and standard pattern; if real work is to be done the. command must be in tho hands of a capable master or boy with knowledge to instruct and power to punish. But during short parado this distinction of functions may be slurred over; in a full training for consecutive. days it cannot bo ignored. The Soldier in Charso. "Tlie parents," concluded tho headmaster, "had committed the caro of their boys to tho headmaster, not to a soldier; and the only justification for introducing military disciplino was a certainty of success. The event has justified the venturo, ;is the experience of thc3o camps showed that it would if the soldier were of tho right sort. There lias been bred a respect for tho service, which means a groat deal in the lives of hoys who sec nothing of the attractive pomp of soldiering and little of its noble self-sacrifice."