TRAINING N.Z. CADETS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1048, 12 August 1930, Page 14

TRAINING N.Z. CADETS

COMMISSIONS AT SANDHURST TEMPORARY SUSPENSION Press Association PARLIAMENT BLDGS. Monday. The hope that it will soon be possible to resume sending New Zealand military cadets to be trained at Sandhurst is expressed in the Defence Department’s annual report, tabled in the House today. Cadets F. L. Davis, R. C. Queree, and B. * Wicksteed, who recently graduated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, were commissioned as second lieutenants in the N.Z.S.C., and are now undergoing attachments to infantry battalions at Home, says the report. Since September, 1928, no cadets for commissions in the New Zealand Permanent Forces have been selected for training at military colleges in England. Thus the approved policy of appointing officers to the New Zealand Permanent Forces has been in abeyance for two j'ears. The system has been found to be most suitable from all points of view, and whatever establishment of officers is maintained in future, it is essential that vacancies shall be filled fjom specially selected cadets, who graduated at one of the colleges in England, and who have been given further opportunity of undergoing a course of training with a unit of the regular army before returning to the Dominion. In view of the constant development of military science, it is important that in the interests of the forces generally our young officers should be adequately trained for their duties, and it is therefore hoped that it will soon be possible to resume sending cadets to England.

Several New Zealand cadets recommended for commissions in the regular army were accepted on the Governor-General’s nomination for cadetships at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, during the year. In these cases all expenses are payable by the parents of the candidates. Wide publicity has been given by the department to the opportunities that are open to New Zealand boys in this respect, and all possible assistance is given to candidates who are considered suitable, and who apply for these cadetships.