E.—ld

2

No. 2

The Officer Commanding Public-school Cadets to the Right Hon. the Minister of Education. Sir,— Wellington, Ist July, 1905. I have the honour to submit the following report regarding the public-school cadets : — Organization. —Since the last report battalions with their respective staffs have been organized in the Auckland (2), Hawke's Bay (1), and Wanganui (1) Districts, making the total number of battalions in the colony 25. The strength of the corps in the several education districts on the 30th June, 1905, was 12,500, beim; an increase of 1,642 over the previous year ; and it is fully expeoted from the enrolments which are still coming to hand, though the movement has only been in existence since July, 1902, that the total strength at the end of the year will be 14,000. There is no question as to the keenness displayed by the cadets in their work, which is very encouraging ; and, unquestionably, from what was learned, the headmasters are satisfied that the movement is helping the school discipline. The assistance given by headmasters still continues, and is duly appreciated at headquarters. Inspection of Corps. —The inspection of the whole of the corps of the colony was completed during ast December. It is impossible not to speak in the highest praise of the great improvement in the drill and rifle exercise of the cadets. The precision with which nearly all the corps performed their arm and foot drills was very noticeable, the exceptions being in the case of corps which had a number of recruits in the ranks at the time of inspecting. The sergeants were personally examined in both theory and practical work, and it is satisfactory to bear testimony to the manner in which these non-commissioned officers carried out their parts of the inspection. The suggestion made in last year's report to utilise the sergeants was found to have been taken advantage of by officers commanding corps. In many cases it was also found that sergeants were a valuable adjunct to the school through their services being utilised to carry out military drill (which is compulsory under the Education Act) of the lower-standard boys. Manual of Infantry Training, 1903 (New Zealand). —To give an idea how anxious the cadets are to be in possession of this manual, the whole of the first edition of 5,000 copies has been sold, and a second edition is now in course of preparation. The special feature of this will be the inclusion of a number of photographs of company movements, which will be better understood than the diagrams used in the first edition. Equipment. —Up to the 30th June, 1904, 8,700 cadets had been fully equipped, but this number has now reached 11,500. The material imported was found to be insufficient, but orders are being executed to provide for the requisitions now waiting completion. The 1,000,000 percussion-caps imported for using on the model rifles have been largely purchased by corps at 2d. per 100. Their use is highly appreciated by the cadets, and a training in fire discipline is secured. Ammunition. —The Government having entered into a contract with the Colonial Ammunition Company for the manufacture of "310 ammunition for the miniature rifles at the same price as the imported article, corps will be able to get their annual allowance of fifty rounds per cadet without delay, which was not the case heretofore, as the shipments were only received from time to time. The cartridges will be loaded with nitro-cellulose powder. Result of Shield Comptitions. —The results for 1904 for the North and South Island shields are given on the next page. A medal is granted to each member of the teams, with his name, &c, engraved upon it. The medal has been substituted for the £10 granted to each team for the 1903 competition. It is very gratifying to be able to note that the scores made for 1904 are greater than those for the previous year. The lowest for 1903 was 219, and for 1904 it was 419. Photographs of the winning teams will be found in the Appendix. Class Firing. —The results for class firing for 1904 also show a great improvement on the previous year. In several cases 80, 81, and 82 points were made out of a possible of 84. The district prize medals have bean issued to the winners, and their presentation was made by the Mayors of the boroughs in which the winners lived. Marksmen's badges have also been issued — i.e., to all cadets making over 63 points a badge in yellow worsted,and to the best shot in each corps one in gold embroidery. Rifle matches between battalion and corps teams took place in many districts, and in some cases very good scores were made. The following are the winners of the district medals : —

District.* Town. Rank and Name. j Number of Points. Auckland Hawke's Bay .. Warganui Wellington Canterbury North Canterbury South Grey Marlborough .. Nelson Otago Southland Onehunga Datmevirke Wanganui Levin Southbrook Geraldine Taylorville Blenheim (Richmond School) Oamaru (North School) Invercargill Lieutenant J. Parry .. 77 Lance-corporal H. Carlson .. 82 Private R. Harris .. .. 79 Sergeant H. Woods .. .. 81 Private E. Beker .. .. 72 Colour-sergeant J. Templer .. 72 Private R. McTaggart .. 69 Private W. Logan .. .. 68 Sergeant E. Ingram . . 64 Bugler A. Whyte .. 80 Private Kingsland .. .. 74 * No returns were received from Taranaki and Westland.