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Royal Military College op Australia The opportunity of entering the commissioned ranks of tlie Regular Force by means of a cadetship tenable at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, attracted a good response this year. As a result, the ten vacancies at the college allotted to New Zealand were filled. This year, for the first time, there was a Regular Force Cadet amongst the selected ten. Also included was a soldier from the Royal New Zealand Artillery. Last year the Australian authorities decided that the courses at the college should revert to the normal period of four years, thus terminating the three year courses which had been run since just before the war. As a result, no Staff Cadets graduated from the college in 1949. Regular Force Cadets The success of the scheme introduced early in 1948 for the enlistment of youths into the Army as Regular Force Cadets was evidenced when the first batch of thirty-nine graduated from the Cadet Wing of the Army School on 15th August, 1949. A further sixty-two graduated in the following month and, as with the first batch, were posted to various units as tradesmen or instructors. Regular Force Cadets are enlisted at the age of sixteen or seventeen years and serve as Cadets either for twelve months or until they reach eighteen years of age. The Army attends to the general education of the Cadets. In the 1949 examinations, eleven Cadets gained their School Certificates and three passed the University Entrance Examinations. Two Cadets were selected as officer-cadets, one being now at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, while the other is taking engineering degree course at Canterbury University College. Medical Services The general health of the Army has remained good, the sick and hospitalization rates being well within average limits. No full-time medical officers are employed, medical attention being provided by part-time medical officers and civilian medical practitioners who are assisted by Regular nursing Sisters and V.A.D.s of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service and by soldiers of the Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps. The New Zealand Army Nursing Service also provides nursing services for the other Armed Forces. ' At the present time there are three Regular Sisters serving at the Naval Base Hospital, Devonport, and six seconded to the Royal New Zealand Air Force. In addition, a number of Territorial Voluntary Aides are proving most helpful in augmenting medical staffs. The re-forming of Territorial medical units has made good progress. Over 100 medical officers have been appointed in the past twelve months, and some 80 of these attended a refresher course at Burnham Camp in August, 1949. The Otago University Medical Company has been reconstituted on a voluntary basis, and 120 all ranks of the company underwent a fortnight's training course at Burnham Camp during March, 1950. Dental Services Dental services have been developed and expanded. Three recently-qualified dental surgebns have joined the Corps on short-service commissions, and there have been important increases, also, in other rank personnel. A feature of the dental service is that practically every dental officer is a Health Department bursar who has been released for service in the Royal New Zealand Dental Corps, where the terms of the bursary contract are being fulfilled. As a result of the increase in dental officer strength the coverage of the Services dentally has been reasonably thorough and complete. Consequently the dental health of Army personnel is good.

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