This is the time of year when schools have speech
days, and speakers at more than one school, annoyed with Mr. Lansbury's pugnacious remarks about the Prince of Wales, have commented on the ethics of school 0.T.Cs. The Headmaster of St. Edmund's School, Canterbury— the Rev. H. Balmforth—holds that there is no halfway house between the views of the Society of Friends, that there should be no military defences, and acceptance of the necessity of training, the rudiments of which are pro- vided by -O.T.Cs. But this leaves out one side of the argument : those who object to O.T.Cs. at schools do so, I think, on the supposition that they may instil a spirit of militarism into boys at an impressionable age. I do not believe they do anything of the kind—but that is the point that has to be answered. One speaker sug- gested that every uniform should carry the badge of the League of Nations, and that for every hour spent in drill another hour should be spent in studying the functions of the League. • * *
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