374 To the Editors of " The Peterite," Dear Sirs, Through the medium of your pages I wish publicly to thank all those who have contributed to the successful existence of the Boat Club this term. In particular, Mr. Ping, Mr. Rhodes, and Mr. Greem.vay deserve our thanks for the many hours they have spent in the rather difficult, and often unpleasant, task of coaching crews, while Mr. Rhodes' attentions have caused many a battered boat to become once more Ouse-worthy. Yours sincerely, E. A. G. HARROP, Captain of Boats.
Original Contributions.
C.E.C.: l 1Retrospect. The esprit " The keenness and spirit was very marked de corps and standard of this contingent is a high one . . . There are, in this contingent, the makings of good officers." —Extract from War Office Report. Like most institutions, the O.T.C. comes in for a good deal of criticism from public schoolboys ; as is generally the case, such criticism goes far beyond what is reasonable, but, sifted, weighed, and analysed, it becomes reduced to two major complaints. The first of these is that it is hard work ; the second, that it is a bore. The first may be dismissed without much cothment, for two reasons : the O.T.C. does not entail much hard work, and, even if it did, nobody would object to it on that ground alone. People who spend their off hours pushing in a rugger scrum, or rowing in a boat, or being made to stop unpleasantly hard balls, do not mind work so long as it has some interest for them. This brings us to the second criticism, which has a lot more reason behind it. The O.T.C. is intended as a means of producing a reserve of good officers ; it is also, officially, a voluntary institution. The first essential is, therefore, that it should hold people's interest ; this object achieved, the work of training these people as officers can proceed. The position is entirely different from that obtaining at Sandhurst, or in the regular army ; there, there is a direct incentive to good work, if only the threat of penalties for inefficiency. The
