Major Purnell's Position.

(EVENING POST.) In reference to the protest which it is said will be made against Honorary Major Purnell taking the Rifle Championship if he wins it, the following information is of interest :— Major Parnell some time ago resigned the captaincy of a Wanganai volunteer company, and retired from the force, but as a recognition of his psst services he was gazetted to an honoray majority in the New Zealand Volunteer Force 1 Since that time he his not serred as a volnnteer, and when the quettion of hits attending the Rifle Association meeting waa raised, it was pointed ont that, although he could compete in the AllComers' matches, he was not elieible to compete for the championship, or to fire in ths teams matches. Knowing how steady and reliable a shot he is, the Wanganui people were much annoyed at this, and, by way of getting over the difficulty, influenoe was used, with the remit that, (n the Gazette of the 16th February last, the following singular notice appeared amongst the Volunteer appointments :—": — " Wanganni City Rifle Volunteers. — Honorary Major James Purnell, New Zealand Volunteers, to be Honorary Major. " Ihe idea of attaching an honorary field officer to a rifle company is unique, and, from a military point of view, utterly absurd. The volunteer regulations authorise the appointment of honorary officers, but do not place them on ths establishment of the company, and it cannot be contended that this Gazette notice gives Major Purnell any standing whatever as an actual volunteer. There is bat one way of joining a volunteer corps, and that way Major Parnell certainly did not adopt when he sought to rejoin the company. The manner by which alone commissions can be obtained in any company it also provided for in the regulations. Theso not being complied with, Majpr Purnell's appointment as Honorary Major is altogether ultra vires and, we believe, quite unprecedented. We have known officers holding a commission as major permitted, under special circumstances, to retain command of a company, but never of there being a Major honorary or active attached to an ordinary volunteer company The protest, if made, will probably lead to the discovery of how it was that Major Purnell obtained this extraordinary appoinment. The object with which it was made is of course quite patent, and it is one to which the defence authorities ought not, we think, to have lent the authority of the Governor's name. Apart from the technical question of whether Major Purnell is or is not really a volunteer, .we may say that there are few men in ihe colony, volunteers or not, who more thoroughly deserve the honour of the championship, as through a series of years he has always held a nrominent position as a marksman at the Rifle Association's meet* ings.