Wellington Idendepent 24 November 1868
Hutt Volunteer Cadet Corps.— On Saturday evening last a meeting was held at the St. James” school room, Lower Hutt, for the purpose of forming a Volunteer Rifle Cadet Corps under the command of A. Braithwaite, Esq. At a previous meeting preliminaries had been arranged, and on the above evening some fifty or sixty boys assembled, together with several gentlemen interested in the formation of the Corps. Fifty-six members were enrolled. W. W. Mantell Esq. principal of the Clevedon House School, was appointed lieutenant, and Master Edward Allen, ensign. We gladly hail this as a step in the right direction, for the present emergency certainly teaches us that our boys must be trained to arms if the colony is to be protected in the future from the perpetration of atrocities like those of the last few months and we would humbly suggest to the ladies of the Hutt and Taita that they could show their interest in the movement by presenting the new formed corps with colors.

Wellington Independent 7 October 1869
Cadet Corps.— We are pleased to find that the present Government have not followed the example of their predecessors in discouraging, or at least failing to encourage the formation and sustenance of cadet corps. The advantage of thus training our boys to arms is so self-evident that we cannot conceive why so little attention has hitherto been bestowed upon this important subject. The Hutt and Taita Cadets have been reorganised and supplied with carbines and belts for the purposes of drill until a more suitable class of arms and accoutrements can be obtained for them. A capitation grant is to be given, which will be sufficient to supply the boys with a uniform, and there is every rrason to believe that an impetus will be thus given which will go far to counteract the ill-effects of past neglect.