H.—l9.

8

10. Rifle Clubs. There are now 205 Rifle Clubs in the Dominion. During the year thirteen new Rifle Clubs have been accepted, and thirteen disbanded. During the past year a further concession has been granted to the RTfle Clubs —namely, insurance by the Government against accident to markers. If Rifle Clubs are to be considered a second line oi' defence to the Territorial Force, more should be done by them in the form of field training to fit themselves to take the field if required. It is recognized by the musketry authorities of all military nations that field practices are now of more value than individual practices. The individual training on the range is only a preliminary to the more important field practice. The Inspector-General of the Oversea Forces was favourably impressed by the appear _o and bearing of those Rifle Club men inspected by him; it is to be hoped, therefore, that all Rifle Clubs will act upon his advice to bring by degrees their methods of shooting into greater harmony with those of the Territorials. By this means only will they qualify themselves to take the field with the rest of the Citizen Army. Some of them are already doing it; others have still to take the plunge. When they do they will quickly become as useful an adjunct to the field army as those who have already adopted up-to-date methods and taken to drill and field practices. 11. General Training Section. The Permanent officers and non-commissioned officers of the N.Z.S.C. and Permanent Staff are responsible for the training of men of the General Training Section. For convenience of organization and for help as regards training, these men are attached to the Rifle Clubs. As regards the assistance which they can receive from the latter, it must be understood that there are in reality two classes of Rifle Clubs. These are—(l) city or town Rifle Clubs; (2) country Rifle Clubs. In the case of the town liirle Clubs the men belonging to them are in continual touch with one another, live and work under similar conditions, and are tied by common interests. Their half-holidays fall on the same days. Their rifle range is within easy reach, and they go there together to carry out, their class firing or to fire matches against other clubs. This gives facilities for carrying out the training smoothly, systematically, and effectively, both of the club and its General Training Section. In the case of the country Rifle Clubs these advantages obtain only in a lesser degree. Their members are widely dispersed. As a rule they can only attend the rifle ranges by twos and threes, although special efforts at a combined attendance may be made in the case of a match. The General Training Section of the clubs is subject to the same conditions, and men of it can therefore, as a rule, only attend the nearest drill centre and receive training from Permanent officers and non-commissioned officers. 12. Cadets. The Cadets have improved in every way since last year. 'Ihis was made evident at the parades for the inspection of the Inspector-General of the Oversea Forces. Their steadiness in the ranks and the manner in which they marched past shows that their discipline and training have improved very considerably, and reflects credit on all officers and non-commissioned officers concerned in their training. A healthy spirit of emulation between companies and of esprit de eorpa has made itself evident in many instances. Practically all the companies have been armed, which has stimulated the efforts of the Cadets. Considering that in the majority of cases the companies seen by the Inspector-General had been concentrated for the first time as such, it was remarkable how well they worked together. But.there is no question that for the efficient and satisfactory training of Cadets in scattered country districts periodical concentrations such as are recommended by the Inspector-General would produce far better results than the present system of drills by a peripatetic instructor. I trust that money to enable us to give effect to his recommendations will be forthcoming. In the initial stages of the Cadet training it was no doubt necessary, in view of the prejudices and doubts which-existed on the subject in the minds of parents and employers, to insist upon all drills taking .place within reach of the lads' homes. Now I am sine that the experience of the last three years has set these doubts at rest, and that those parents or guardians who would see any objection to their boys attending a concentration of Cadets would be tVw and far between. Many cases have come to my notice where employers and others have remarked the improvement in behaviour, physique, and appearance of the Cadets in their civil capacity. A camp of instruction for Cadet officers and N.C.O.s was held at Feilding. Three hundred and fifty attended. The camp lasted ten days, and the result lias been a marked improvemeni in the companies to which these officers and non-commissioned officers belonir. There are now in training 25,332 Cadets in the Dominion, of whom 17,568 were seen by the Inspector-General. Details of the places where they were concentrated for inspection anil of the number inspected at each place will be found in Appendix F. His Excellency the Governor reviewed those Cadets who were assembled at Auckland. 13. Special Training of Cadets at Secondary Schools. An experiment has been made during last year of handing over certain secondary schools entirely to military authority for a continuous course of military training for four days. The schools that tried this experiment were the Wanganui Collegiate School, the NYw Plymouth High School, Christ's College, and Waitaki High School. The College at Nelson also began such a course, but it had to be abandoned on account of bad weather.