"EYES FRONT!

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2437, 16 April 1915, Page 3

"EYES FRONT!

TERRITORIALS IN,GREAT HEART EFFICACY OF OUR TRAINING SYSTEM. . I't speaks well for the military training system in force in New Zealand that going on for. nine months after the outbreak of the greatest war in history, the scheme is working smoothly and efficaciously throughout the length and breadth' of tho land. Colonel A. W. Robin, C.8., 0.C.N.Z.F., returned from a visit to the south yesterday morning. During his absence from Wellington he inspected the Territorial camp on_ the Wingatui racecourse, just outside of Dunedin, and also the camp at Oamaru, where are in active training fine bodies of young trcops, consisting of infantry, Army Service Corps, Ambulance Corps, and a Signalling Corps. The men are eager to learn all that there is td be learned about arms-and drill. Consequent on the- big demand for officers for tho Main Expedition and subsequent reinforcements for service abroad, a large number of temporary appointments as commissioned officers and non-commis-sioned officers have been made throughout tlie Dominion, and the first real test of the capacity of these men for the work' has been the annual camps now being held. As far as the-camps are concerned, which Colonel Robin.! visited in the south, the work of the officers and non-commissioned officers was found to be particularly good. There were no " slackers, and all were imbued with the seriousness and importance of the duties _ entrusted to them. He was also impressed with the soldierly spirit- which infected all ranks and the splendid manner in which the men were knuckling down to that discipline which in the end means efficiency.

"It is satisfactory to see how well the training system is working," said Colonel Robin in conclusion. "Though no are in the middle of a big war, to which we -have already contributed many thousand men, the scheme is working placidly and effectively, from end to end of the country. By April 31 we will have had 60,000 Territorials and cadets under canvas, apart altogether from those who are going abroad with the Reinforcements. What a splendid training _ machine it is for the supply of recruits in this great emergency. T3y the end of June we will have a whole lot of 20-year-olds, with two years' training eligible to enlist in the' Reinforcements should they desire to do so. That means : that if we had not had such a system in operation our position would not have been nearly so satisfactory as it is to-day."