CAREERS IN THE ARMY

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 18, 16 October 1943, Page 4

CAREERS IN THE ARMY

Candidates For Duntroon TEN TO BE SELECTED The intention of the Government to send ten cadets from New Zealand to tiie Royal Military College, Duntroon, Australia, early next year to be trained for commissions in the New Zealand Regular Force, was announced yesterday by the Minister of Defence, Mr. Jones. He said that as in previous years the cooperation of headmasters of secondary schools and colleges throughout the Dominion was being sought in the preliminary selection of cadets who wished to make the Army their career. There might also be some youths in the required age group and possessing the necessary high educational qualifications serving in mobilized units of the Territorial Force, and particulars of the conditions of entry to Duntroon were being circulated to those units. “Last year, for the first time, youths of the Maori race were afforded the opportunity to apply for admission to the college,” added the Minister, “and one Maori candidate was selected. Maoris will be eligible to apply this year, and of those finally selected, two may be of the Native race. “From candidates offering throughout the Dominion it is proposed to select provisionally 20 to 25 candidates who will be assembled at Trentham Camp toward the end of January for interview and a short testing course. At the end of the course the final selection of. the ten candidates will be made. Considerable care is taken in the selection of candidates. A high standard of education is required, specially in mathematics and physics and/or chemistry. Proficiency in mathematics is regarded as being of special importance now, as for reasons arising out of the war, the length of the course has been reduced from the usual four to three years.. A puss in the University Entrance Examination, including a pass mark of 55 per cent, of the maximum marks in mathematics in that examination, is the minimum standard acceptable.” The principal conditions which every candidate must fulfil are as follows: —• He must be a British subject, the son of British subjects, and of pure European or of Maori descent, and must be a member of a family established and resident in New Zealand. He must pass a very strict medical 'examination of active service standard and be over 17 but under 20 years of age on March 1, 1944. Before proceeding to Duntroon a cadet will be required to sign an undertaking that he will serve in the New Zealand Regular Force for 12 years. Full particulars are available from any Army Office, and applications are to be made in the first instance to unit commanders by youths serving in the Territorial Force, and to headmasters by students still at school.