TRAINING MODERN YOUTH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3949, 30 May 1929, Page 3

TRAINING MODERN YOUTH.

Addressing the young officers present at the opening of the new Officers’ Club at Auckland, His Ex-, cellency Sir Charles Ferausson suggested that they had a duty other than merely teaching the art of war (states the “New Zealand Herald”). That was to instruct the .men under their care in the principles of citizenship. In the Officers’ Club, officers o!f the Territorial Foi’ces, who had not . the advantage of constant social intercourse in [the officers’ mess, which was one of the most important institutions in the service, bad the opportunity of absorbing and passing on to their men the traditions of the service and the principles of citizen discipline. Those were the principles which, carrying the army in itlie field to victory, also carried the nation to greatness. The .war, continued His Excellency, while it robbed the Empire of a great proportion of its youth, pushed the remainder on to manhood, with the result-that the youth of to-day was neither ignorant nor ill-informed. To them he would give three words to ponder over: “The side, the spirit, and the second innings.” By the side lie meant an appreciation of loam-work and self-sacrifice; by the spirit he implied the traditions of the school, which taught one to do by instinct the things one should do and to avoid the things one should not do; and by .the second innings he meant the instinct of remembering that, until the last ball w as bowled the game was not lost. He strongly advised young officers lo give brief lectures to their men on the meaning of those words.