VOLUNTEER CADETS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 12, 15 April 1871, Page 1

VOLUNTEER CADETS.

The Volunteer contests reported in our columns to-day afford a gratifying assurance that the movement will receive more encouragement, and attain a greater development among us, than we had almost ventured to anticipate. The interest of "Monday, we hope, will not soon evaporate, and leave behind the same apathy that has hitherto distinguished us. Monday's meeting must have had a salutary effect both on the public and the volunteers. The latter especially must have been pleased with the recognition (tardy though it be) of the sacrifices they have so long made. But, if the movement is to be sustained and properly carried out to a successful issue, it is evident that this encouragement must not-be fitful or evanescent. We hope, therefore, that we may speak of our indifference as a thing of the past. Volunteering, as a public movement, has many subsidiary claims to our support over and above its intrinsic advantages. No volunteer can bea successful shot who leads an immoral or irregular life. Wimbledon has proved this year by year, and the intercolonial prize firing in New Zealand h*s given evidence no less convincing. The character of our Wellington representatives is sufficiently well known to bear this assertion out; and, without saying a word against the noble game s of billiards, except that it is very expensive and frequently leads to late hours, it is a noticeable fact that none of the six champious - at the late contest in Auckland can "handle the cue." They find more ainusement at the target, and few will doubt that of the two amusements they cultivate "the nobler and the manlier one." The physique of the successful competitors is stated to have attracted much attention at Auckland, and ' certainly

it contrasted strikingly with that■ displayed by those accustomed to : spend whole evenings in hot rooms, -'in dissipation or frivolities. Too .little attention is apt to be ; :paid, especially in cities, to physical health ; yet without this what would be the volunteer, or any other movenlent requiring bodily exertion ?3 ; - ?Nbt only directly but indirectly has b§%' health a great influence, it is''absolutely necessary to moral and intellectual development. Dr. Johnson said every man was a rascal when sic&,:and without doubt a man. under thef depressing or irritating influence of disease, will do many things he would not think of doing if in good health. . " Hard, •alted meat," as Sydney Smith said, "has led to suicide." So, too, the brain, as much as the moral nature, depends largely on bodily health.' "Buol naparte attributed the loss of one;;o'f his battles to an ill-cooked' dinnerV which disturbed his digestion v and so rendered his head unfit for its usual work. "There can be no doubt that a great deal of the intellect of the country is lost through ill health. And this brings us to remark that any system of education which does not include the care, and training of the body is defective and non-natural. Here, again, we would do well to follow the example of Otago, where the boys at the public schools are formed into cadet corps, under efficient drill masters* If, as we anticipate,' the volunteer movement will be encouraged more and more by the State until it rise to be considered our national army, no better expedient could ,be adopted than requiring, at all schools under State inspection, the boys to be taught military drill and the use of military weapons. The advantages of such a training are too evident to illustration. Besides the physical robustness and vigour this would impart, it would instil habits of obedience, order, neatness, and discipline, and would give them a manly grace and deportment and infuse a chivalrous sentiment not otherwise likely ' to be acquired. Their frequent matches in the open air would equally aid their physical and moral well-being, and their interprovincial and intercolonial contests would infuse those liberal and patriotic sentiments which are at once the noblest and surest pledges of. the true unity of the colony. If for some time to come our .youth cannot meet in the quadrangleof a national university and forget, all provincial differences in the common pursuit of humanizing literature, they may at least meet once a year or oftener in Wellington—the natural Campus Martius of the colony. We are advocating no Utopian ideas, we are only asking New Zealand to follow the example of Switzerland and Prussia. We are recommending the best. possible mode of supporting the volunteer corps now in existence by giving them a supply, year by year, of well-trained" recruits. We are advocating the development of that patriotic feeling which flourishes most in states whose citizens are trained to military defence, than which nothing will more effectually fuse together into one great nationality the diverse settlements in this "Britain of the South." • -i-MfW-