Topic: Canadian Militia
Sending of NCOs to Schools for Instruction
Military News, The Daily Mail and Empire, Toronto, Ontario, 16 October 1897
In reference to Royal Schools of Instruction, the general officer commanding has observed that the class of non-commissioned officers and men sent for instruction to those schools is not always credible to the corps to which they belong, and that proper care is not exercised in their selection. He therefore deems it expedient to remind officers commanding units that these schools of instruction are not maintained either for the purpose of affording temporary employment to the unemployed or for the training of recruits.
The regulations and orders for the militia are quite specific in this respect, and the general officer commanding intends that in future the principles therein defined shall be strictly adhered to in order that due value may be received by the public for the expenditure.
The following additional instructions will, until further orders, be adhered to in selection of non-commissioned officers and men for courses of instruction; not only must officers commanding corps exercise great care in selecting or recommending men for courses of instruction , but they must also ascertain that, besides physical fitness, these men possess more than an average degree of intelligence that they have fair educational attainments, and that they possess the aptitude for imparting the instruction they may receive to others.
As a general rule non-commissioned officers only will be recommended. Only where these qualifications are possessed in a marked degree will a private soldier be recommended.
Non-commissioned officers or men recommended must have completed at least twelve months' service in the corps to which they belong, and must have attended the last annual meeting of their corps.
Officers commanding corps neglecting to comply with these instructions will incur a very serious responsibility, for which they will be strictly held to account.
Commandants of schools will not only see that these instructions are complied with, but they will so arrange that by constant supervision of an officer detailed for the purpose, attached con-commissioned officers and men who give evidence by want of intelligence of educational attainment that they are not likely to become efficient non-commissioned officers are likely to be immediately returned to their corps. And the cases promptly reported to headquarters.
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