VOLUNTEER AND DEFENCE NOTES

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 295, 13 December 1899, Page 3

VOLUNTEER AND DEFENCE NOTES

(By Rifleman.)

j Last Saturday the Auckland Navals ; were given firing-practice at Fort Resolution, the batteries there being j fully manned for the occasion. The guns at the Bastion were also manned, | but not fired. A large number of visiitors were present at the camp at Devonport on Sunday, and were entertained by the Navals to afternoon tea. I have to acknowledge an invitation to dinner at the camp on Sunday. Prior to the Company breakingl camp next Saturday all the forts will be manned, Forts Cautley, Resolution and Bastion by the Auckland and l on son by Navals, and Fort Takapuna by the Devonport Coastguard Artillery. Firing practice at a moving/target will be indulged in. _ The Akarana Rifle Club held a practice at their range at Avondale last Saturday. The match for> Mr Thome's trophies for A and B class shots takes place next Saturday afternoon.

The annual .meeting of the Auckland Rifle Association was to have been held last Friday evening, but the on]; two members who put in an appearance were Major White and Lieur. Dormer, the secretary, the meeting thus lapsing for want of a quorum. Another date Avill be fixed shortly, and it is to be hoped that there will be a better attendance next time. The Auckland Mounted Kifles came out of camp last Saturday afternoon. The quarterly examination of candidates for officers' commissions was commenced at the Drill Hall this morning. A shooting-man gives it as his opinion that the life of a Martini-Henry rifle for a marksman's purpose is not more than 2000 rounds, and even this only when the rifle has had the utmost care bestowed on it. Some three weeks ago Colonel Penton informed Major Sommerville that the Government had the status of the New Zealand Rifle Association under consideration, and that he would be advised when a decision was arrived at. Major Sommerville has suggested that the meeting be held in Wanganul, early in February, and that the rifle be the Martini for the last time. The programme is all ready, but it cannot be circulated till Major Sommerville gets a final answer from Colonel Penton.

Shooting men all over the colony will be sorry to learn that Major Sommerville has decided to retire from the New Zealand Rifle Association after the next meeting. Cyclists are. playing a prominent part in the Transvaal w rar, and we read that in the Glencoe engagement (says "Country Sport") several officers used their bicycles for scouting purposes, and apprising the Dundee people of the. attack. The trooper of the Imperial Light Horse arrested in Ladysmith as a spy is a well-known Johannesburg cyclist named Fraser, and it would seem from some of the latest dispatches that the Boers have been raiding some of the cycle stores and annexing new bicycles for the use of their scouts.

A number of Imperial army, reservists employed on the Duke of Bedford's estates having been called out for service. The Duke, who, as a young man, was an officer in the Guards, gave each of them a week's wages on leaving, and until their return promised to pay the amount of their customary wages to their wives or other near relatives.

The "Times,", in its obituary notice of the late Mr Metford, states:—"ln William Ellis Metford, who died at Bristol on Saturday, October 14tli, passed away the second of two men Whoso influence upon rifiei-shoot ingand upon the development of the modern rifle has been very great. The other of the two, of course, was Sir Henry Hal ford. Always together at Wimbledon, where they inhabited the windmill, and Bisley, where they shared a bungalow near the long ranges, the two old gentlemen have not been kept apart for long by death.: Neither of them was a regular officer; both of them had a. passion for rifleshooting and for the improvement of the weapon; both were first-rate mechanics, possessed of wonderful manual skill of hand; their joint influence was enormous. Mr Metford's life-work may be summarised fairly by saying that through' the old match-rifle and his experiments with it and smallerbored weapons, he brought our military weapon almost up to its present pntch of perfection. Enfield has put on the finishing touch, but Mr Metford was the discoverer of the essential principle. That is, the/principle of shallow grooves. "It is one of the first essentials in a rifle, writes Major the Hon. T. E. Fremantle, "that the bullet should fill the bore entirely as it passes up it, so that there may be no leakage whatever of the powder gases past it. It was Mr Metford who discovered that this result could be obtained with much more ease and certainty by using a bullet of hardened lead, and keeping the grooves quite shallow; and his method, which. i had many other advantages

brought about a revolution in the practice of rifle-makers." The second competition for the Hallenstein trophy was fired off at the Te Aroha range on Thursday afternoon last, and although the former firing- left very few who had any chance of winning the much-covered clock, yet keen interest Was taken in Thursday's firing. Some half a dozen of the best marksmen in the corps went down to the range, Colour-Sergt. Stanley being In charge of the party. The weather ■ was not the best for shooting, being cloudy, with a slight westerley breeze blowing. The ranges were 200, 300, 400 and 500 yards, seven shots at each. In the previous competition Sergt. W. Maing-ay headed the list, with Corporal Fred Strange a close second, and on Thursday these two again finished in that order with the very creditable scores of 120 and 117 respectively to their names. Sergt. Stanley also shot well, coming third on the list with 112, making 34 put of a possible 35 at the 400 yards range. At the 500 yards range Vol. Hurst put on the excellent score of 32. The shooting of Maingay and Strange ia the best so far recorded on the local range. Scores: —

Yds. Yds. Yds. Yds 200 300 400 500 Tl. Sergt. W. Maingay.. 32 30 32 32 126 Corp. F. Strange..... 28 29 32 28 117 Sergt. Stanley 26 24 34 2S 112 Sergt. Salmon 27 2S 27 28 110 Vol Hirst -... 27 21 26 33 107 Vol. McKee :. 27 24 25 24 109 Considerable doubt (says "Bivouac" in "The Broad Arrow") appears to exist in the army as to, what is the correct definition of drunkenness as applicable to the soldier. The prevalent idea of drunkenness is incapacity to

perform military duty, what in civilian life is equivalent to a condition ol abject helplessness, the absolute want of control of the limbs and speech. According to military law a man is either drunk or sober. There are no degrees between these two extremes. A man cannot be slightly drunk or not quite sober. If he is not absolutely sober he is drunk. The quantity of drink taken is immaterial. Whether lit is half a pint taken soon after disi charge from hospital or five pints in i the case of a confirmed canteen hand, has nothing to do with the case. A man is drunk when through the influence of drink he is unable to properly perform a military duty allotted to him. For instance, a soldier ordered to slope arms, who from the effects of drink performs the movement in an awkward or slovenly manner, is drunk. Also, a soldier who on leaving the canteen at first post is unable to walk as steadily as he should on parade is drunk. As a matter of fact, it is the custom of the Sen-ice not to notice the latter instances of drunkenness not of a serious nature.

It may be, and no doubt it is (says "The Navy and Army Illustrated") a proof of spirit, in corps of volunteers to offer to serve against the Boers, ' v"+ does not all this zeal trench a • on the absurd? One finds some ul'ty in seeing anything magnani- •. in the simultaneous efforts of 4.0,000,000 to deal with 25,000. But,' apart from considerations of that kind, and from the question of taste,, is it not the case that corps of volunteers which offer to serve over-sea are going against the very principle by which they.exist? That individual volunteers should enter the ranks of the army is one thing, but that corps of them should go out of the British Isles is another. The theory concerning the volunteers is that they are to stand by to replace the regular soldiers who are sent abroad, so that the country shall not be left without an armed and organised garrison in ease an enemy should contrive to slip through the British fleet and invade us. How that feat could be achieved, and whether it ever will be achieved, are pretty, subjects for debate, but it is the fact that the whole organisation of the volunteers is for home service, and will be reduced to nonsense if they are to be sent abroad.

The "anniversary of the battle of the Alma has (says the same paper) given rise- to mvi-nv lUfp nnend-otp<s of the rWotion nf tho soldiers in hospital to Mis.s N'"'htin'"'nlQ. Ono soldi*"*, in n letter Home, cii'd:—"She wonV <sr>e"V to one nnd another, and nod nnd sTntp "to TPT*.TP r TTVP'**/> Kt|+ crlio Wi'lfl r*-^+ f\s\ M to all, you know, for we lay there by hundreds, but we could kiss her shadow as it fell, and lay our heads on our pillows again, content." The effect of Miss Nightingale's administration was marvellous. Ordor succeeded «en_usion; very soon the awful rate of mortality fell, until in the end it was less than one per cent., and after eighteen months' work our hospitals were models. A testimonial, amounting to ;£ 50,000, was subscribed by the public in recognition of Miss Nightingale's noble services, and was at her special institution for the training- of nurses, now carried out at St. Thomas' Hospital in the "Nightingale Home." To this day there is not one of England's proudest and purest daughters who stands on so hig-h a pinnacle as Florence Nightingale.