uch knowledge and intelligence as will give him
the necessary confidence in himself; and that system is so carried
out that it does not interfere in any way with the industrial,
professional, or commercial avocations of such young men, then the
foundation will be laid of a national defence force based on the
highest principles of citizenship which will be of the greatest
value for home defence or to fight away from her shores in the
interests of the Empire.

II

WHAT IS THE SYSTEM PROPOSED?

The system aims at securing for every young man:

1st, A sound mind in a sound body;

2nd, A disciplined mind;

3rd, The ability to shoot straight;

and

4th, A sufficient knowledge of drill to give him confidence in the
field.

The first requirement--that of securing "a sound mind in a sound
body"--can only be successfully accomplished by a very carefully thought
out and progressive method of training the mental and physical qualities
of our boys from the time when they first go to school. The training of
the youthful minds may be safely left to the Education Departments; it is
necessarily commensurate with the individual capabilities of the boys.

The physical training can be accomplished, and is already so accomplished
in certain schools, by a progressive system of physical culture. There is
no difficulty in providing a manual of physical culture for boys which
shall be progressive and uniform in character, and which can be taught in
all schools by the teachers themselves; in fact, one has been already
prepared at my suggestion by Mr. Weber, Melbourne.

The second requirement--that of securing "a disciplined mind." Here again
it is essential to commence to instil the principles which form a
disciplined mind as early as possible in the boy's early youth.
Self-denial, obedience to the orders of their superiors, and respect and
affection for their elders, are perhaps the most important of these
principles.

This task may again be safely left to the officers of the Education
Department.

It will be seen, therefore, that the first two requirements may be
obtained by a system, as advocated above, to be imparted to all boys in
their early youth by those who are charged with their elementary
education, and it is urged that such system should be uniform and form
part of the school curriculum, the teachers bein