DRILL HALL WANTED.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 618, 22 March 1921, Page 4

DRILL HALL WANTED.

PUKEKOHE’S REQUIREMENTS. The advisability of having a Drill Hail erected at Pukekohe has on more than one occasion been vividly demonstrated, and the time is now opportune for the Defence Department to take immediate steps to provide the necessary facilities. Pukekohe is the national centre of a very progressive farming and agricultural community and a district that is not going back, but which is progressing by leaps and bounds. •'During the last few years the population has increased, and almost every .day newcomers float into the town. This contention has been amply verified by the fact that the accommodation at the local school is totalty inadequate to cope with the increased attendance and representations have been made for additional space. These facts all multiplied go to show that in the very near future the Defence Department will be compelled, to provide a much-needed Drill Hall. We understand that about seven years ago the Defence Department realised the position, and were in the act of erecting the Drill Hall. Five hundred pounds were placed on the Estimates towards the cost of the erection of the hall, but the public opinion as to where the hall should be erected was divided, and eventually the idea was .dropped, and up to the present nothing has been done. The department has a splendid site rear the public school, which is adapted for defence requirements. The possibilities of having a shed constructed very soon appear bright. Now that the war is over an.d matters in New Zealand are practically normal, and in view of the fact that the department will shortly be dismantling Featherston camp, where there is a number of splendid buildings or huts, Pukekohe should look to the future and make application for one of these huts, which could be transported here at little cost and the expense of erection would be a secondary consideration. In the past parades have been held in Messrs Alfred Buckland and Sons’ Horse Bazaar and everyone knows, that especially after a sale, the bazaar is not as fit from a sanitary point of view as would be a straight out drill shed, used entirely for a sole purpose. The horse bazaar would be a splendid place for mere volunteers, but when the department compels territorials and senior cadets to parade, it is up to them to see that modern facilities are provided. Military training is essential in many respects. In the first case the budding youth is taught the rudiments of discipline, really the main feature in the efficiency of an aimy. In the second instance a course of physical culture knocks the rough edges off a raw boy and moulds him into a splendid type of manhood. In the third case he is ready to choulder the rifle in the defence of the nation at very short notice, a fact which was proved over and over again during the great European war. We understand that Papakura and Otahuhu have made representations to the authorities for a drill shed, and if Pukekohe is not awake to the fact the town will be “left.” , It is gratifying to know that since the above was written, the matter was touched upon at Wednesday’s meeting of the Borough Council, when the clerk was instructed to communicate with the Defence Department requesting to know what happened to the Government grant of t. 525, nu.de in 1913. and if the amount was available could it be supplemented.