HOW VOLUNTEERING IS ENCOURAGED.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 13, 16 January 1901, Page 2

HOW VOLUNTEERING IS ENCOURAGED.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—Three years ago I joined the voiinK teers, and, after several months of recruit drill, I became an active, member in ona of the companies of the Battalion., But those were the days when volunteering boomed. The Battalion's strength was close on five hundred rank and-file. If-a parade was called to-morrow the Battalion could Jiot musr?r j'wo hundred AltO; gether. Rumour has it that one company has collapsed, and several others Will likely follow. Why this state of affairs? Perhaps people think the contingents havo. been largely drawn from the volunteers; but there they are wrong-. Tha Volunteer goes to drill and has to put up with the; jeers and sarcastic remarks of his *0r called fellow-citizens. He turns out in all kinds of weather, and. as a rule, doe? his best to make headway in his drill. For what? The privilege of firing eft a few blank cartridges on the Queen's Birthday and occasionally attending church parade. Of course, once a ye'ftr, he does his class-firing on the Mt. Ederf range and perhaps qualifies as a marks*, man. For this he is supposed to receive a bndge—to be worn for the year he win* it. The badges, which come fron Wcl* lington, arrive as a rule when about nine moTiths of the year have gone by. Thus he has just about twelve weeks to wear,/ it.. And what encouragement has a re- : crult to join? Splendid! A cast r Q<t uniform and a dirty rifle, and the pros- : pects of what volunteering will be in the sweet by-and-bye. Then, hearing vol* unteers will receive the first opporttt'/ nity, we try to join the Sixth Contingent We pass all the tests, but when the Colonel comes to do the selecting we find we' are rejected. Improbable as It nAayj seem, it nevertheless is a fact that ~th9 civilian gets the preference. What h^» a volunteer to look forward to?—I *iw» etc., MARKSMAN.,