The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1871.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 234, 3 October 1871, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1871.

" The military training of the youth of the Colony is a subject of so much importance, andone which bashitherlo received so little attention that I deem it ray duty to bring the matter to your especial notice." The above is an extract from the annual report of the laspector of Militia an J Volunteers, and we are very glad to find that the subject has been so prominently brought under the notice of the Legislature. We have so frequently advocated the necessity that exists, if New Zealand is ever to have an available and really efficient defence force, of commencing at the root of the tree by providing drill instructors for the various public schools, that it is gratifying to find an eminent authority, such as Colonel Harrington, coinciding inour views; and, to strengthen the position we have taken up in this matter we will quote a few of his remarks. "It is scarcely necessary for me to point out," he says, " that the Cadets are the real source from whence our best Volunteers will bo recruited in future; and that lads, who, at such an early age, derive practical proofs of tbe benefits of their training, will enter the ranks of adult corps with zeal and earnestness," but he clearly does not approve of the loose manner in which the drilling of the boys has hitherto been conducted, but states his opinion that the drills should be far more frequent, as boys quickly forget what they have learned, if long intervals are allowed to elapse between the periods of instruction. In order to give them a better carriage, and to generally improve their physical condition, he considers a course of " setting-up drill " to be most essential. Detached corps of Cadets, he does not think, are likely to succeed, but suggests that they should be either drilled at school or attached to an adult corps, and that, if the former plan be adopted, some effort should be made to enforce military instruction as a part of the education of the boys, for, when imposed on them out of school hours, they are likely to regard it as tedious and uninteresting, at all events until arms are placed in their hands. In Nelson, we at present, possess greater facilities for carrying out this system ot drilling the young lads than exist in the other provinces. The time of the Adjutant and Sergeant-major is not wholly occupied in attending to the adult corps, and they might easily devote several days in the week to giving periodical instruction at the various district schools. Indeed, if the work were entered upon in a really systematical manner, they might hold classes for drill at every school between Suburban North and Foxhill, including Waimea-west and the Moutere, while at Motueka, and possibly in the outdistricts of G-olden Bay, capable instructors might be found, who, for a small remuneration would undertake similar duties, and thus a system would be inaugurated which would tend greatly to improve the physique of the youth now growing up, to give them a better carriage, and what is far more desirable, to instil into their minds some ideaof discipline, a feature that, all must admit, is sadly deficient in most colonial lads. Besides this, we can but look upon the present Volunteer Force as the mere nucleus of what will one day form a national army, not trained or equipped for aggressive purposes, but one that can be relied on for the defence of the Colony in any- emergency th&V may arise in the years ■ tocome. If 'we view it in this light, we cannot over-estimate the ad-

vantages of being able, year by year, to recruit its ranks by adding to tbem a number of young men who, from their boyhood, have been trained to the use of firearms, and to obey the word of command. Unless it is fed'by such a stream* the Volunteer movement, which has already cost the Colony immense sums of money, must eventually collapse, and j result iv the complete waste of the funds and labor that have been devoted to its inauguration- and sustenance up to the present time. In Nelson, it has of late years proved anything but a success, but if the youth of the Province had been regularly and systematically trained, and had been compelled to surmount the drudgery of the awkward squad drill in their boyhood, a very different state of thiDgs would exist to that which we have of late been accustomed. It is not yet too late too apply the remedy, and if Colonel Harrington's suggestions be adopted, we may safely predict that the Volunteer parades will once more assume a respectable appearance, instead of, as now, comprising about a dozen men of all ranks.