VOLUNTEER AND DEFENCE NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 120, 22 May 1901, Page 2

VOLUNTEER AND DEFENCE NOTES.

(By Rifleman.)

The Auckland Mounted Rules have been grunted permission to hold their military gymkhana at Potter's Paddock in the week of the Royal visit. It is expected that the affair will be a great, success.

Accommodation is being found for 3000 volunteers in Wellington during the Royal visit. Schoolrooms will accommodate 2000.

Next Friday the Auckland Mounted .Rifles will take advantage of the holiday 1o practice for their forthcoming gyinJdiana.

I.ieiit.-Commander Parker, of the Devon port Submarine Miners, received his captain's commission last Saturday. The commission is dated back to' July 4th, 1894, when the company he commands was first formed. It may be mentioned that Lieut.-Com. Parker passed his examination for captain as far back as 18S9. He is one of our oldest volunteers, his connection with the movement dating back to April 20th, ISG2, when he joined the old Auckland Naval Coastguards. His first commission as lieutenant was gained in 1576.

The) 'latest regulation, 'in. Great Britain is that no officer will be considered eligible for appointment or promotion to field rank in the Volunteer Force unless he is in possession of a certificate of proficiency in riding.

Colonel Porter, who left in charge of the Seventh Contingent, and was supposed to hand the men over and return here "to take over another position," it is now said, will be appointed to the position of commander of all the New Zoulonders in South Africa. Possibly when the nouse meets (says the Napier "Telegraph") a. question or two may be asked in connection with this matter.

The No. 2 Natives took on the Victoria Rifles at shooting last Saturday in a teams' match of ten men a-side, but once more the crack Victoria team came out on top, winning by a margin of 131. The highest individual score was 53, nnd all the Victorias got over 40, whereas the only two in the Natives to touch that figure were Capt. Bartlett (4G) and Pvt. Penzholtz (40).

Captain Walker, of the Fourth NewZealand Contingent, who has been crented a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order, ifl the son of a Taranaki farmer, and is 20 years old. He was in the employ of the New Zealand Dairy Association when chosen as captain of the Auckland section of the Fourth Contingent. As showing the esteem in which he was held by his fellow employees, it may be mentioned that they presented him with £50 on his departure, and his company continued his pay for six months after he left for South Africa.

A returned trooper was heard to say of Major Craddoek: "If there was a scrap anywhere handy his men knew ho would be there. He was as keen as mustard on a fight, and generally got into it the best way possible, nnd finished matters in a manner which constituted .him a perfect hero with his men."

A cable, received in Christchurch states that Captain Andrew (Hyderabad Lancers) who went to the war with the Sixth Contingent hns just been promoted to the rank of major in the Imperial service.

Touching the New Zealand Contingent in Australia a Christehiireh paper remnTks:— Tt .seems probable that- the Premier may have to face some questions when the House meets. One matter that is sure to he brought up is the reason for the number of men who went over being double that originally agreed on. Further than that, it is certain that someone will want information as to the reason the minimum height was first fixed nt such an absurd figure as six feet, find also why the regulation was afterwards relaxed in the case of tlie favoured few who had a little of the rifiht. kind of influence. These and other points are likely to be brought up during the session. The Premier ia not likely, however, to allow smnll matters like this to trouble him greatly.

One of the returned troopers pays a high tribute to the value of the bicycle in tho war. "T always regretted," he said, "that T hadn't taken my machine from New Zealand with mo. For scouting purposes the bicycle beats everything, not only because of its speed, but becfnw if can ho much more easily hidden than a horse." "What do you think of the prospects of a fairly large •company mounted solely on cycles?" "In summer time they -would be immensely superior to nn equal number of cavalry, as they could cover the ground more rapidly, and the troublesome craestion of horses' fodder -would be done away Trit.h. As you probrbly know, it is the difficulty of keeping Tip the convoys with the horses' fodder that is the real trouble in forcd marching. But in wet weather the veldt is almost urn-Triable. Still, with cavalry- the marches are then only about 25 miles a day, and nnv evelir-t with us seempd to have no difficulty in keeping with us then."

New York telegrams to the Home ■papers appear to. indicate that the Government of the United States has made a long step ahead in offensive naval warfare. "For instance, it is stated that the Government experts have successfully developed a submarine automobile torpedo, which travels throe-quarters of a mile a minute. The trouble with torpedoes heretofore has been that they were slower than torpedo boate and tor-pedo-boat destroyers. The new torpedo will overtake anything afloat, nnd it is believed to be the greatest discovery over made in this class of weapon. These torpedoes can be discharsred from Literal tubes controlled by an electrical keyboard. The second great weapon of attack just proven successful at Sandy Hook is a shell charged with tnayimito, the new explosive, which does riot explode until the projectile has buried itself in armour. The tests were amnzin<r. Some £30,000' was spent on heavy armour pin cod as on a ship. The gun was -turned upon this, and the shells blew the massive nickel steel plates to pieces. The projectiles penetrated the armour and then exploded by a time fuse. With this explosive it will be possible to explode shells in the vitals of the best armoured vessel.'

The committee of the Akarana Rifle Club have decided to suspend trophy competitions at the range until the worst of the winter months are over. In the meantime members desirous ot practice can always have the use of the targets. Provided that three days notice is given the secretary arrangements will also be made for the resident markers to be in attendance onany occasion when required, and members using the range in this way will be expected to defray the expenses of markers in the usual manner.

During a conversation with a "Wellington Post" representative on Monday Major Crawshaw (who had a command'in our Second Contingent) told an interesting story showing the difference between the regulars and the colonial troops. During the time the offier, who was then a. captain, was in hospital—he having been twice wounded —he occupied a bed next to that of an Imperial officer. Captain Crawshnw's orderly and other troopers of his company ■visited him regularly during his stay in the hospital, and the colonials always greeted their captain with a hearty shake of the hand, and would then sit down and tell him all the camp news. Ail this to the openeyed astonishment of the neighbouring Eritish officer, whose orderlies stood stiffly by whenever they had business with him, and answered his questions in monosyllables. One day the Imperial captain addressed the colonial captain on the subject. "I say," he asked, "are all your fellows like your orderly and those troopers,, who come in to see you?—or are they ■ friends of yotrrs?" "The whole company's just the same," replied the New Zealander, "and those men were practically strangers to me before we left the colony." "Why," exclaimed the Imperial officer, "they're all educated chaps. The nearest approach we have to them are the fellows known as 'gentlemen rankers.' " "Well," replied Captain Crawshaw, "every New Zealander is what you would call a gentleman ranker. They have all come to the war for experience and the excitement, and although they never disobey orders, they all look upon themselves as being as good men as any of their officers." The Imperial officer looked his surprise.

One of the best of the new books on the Boer war is "A Subaltern's Letters to His Wife," from which I extract the following1 vigorous denunciation of the present system of army drill: "Soldiers have for centuries relied on drill, pipeclay and goosesteps, and all the rest of the father and prunella.' This war has conclusively shown fiat all the time spent on such things is absolutely wasted. The Boers, the C.T.V., the Imperial Light Horse, all the volunteer regiments at the front in short, have abundantly demonstrated that discipline can exist without drill, and that courage and military perception are not the exclusive possession of the. much-drilled regular. The universal recognition of the paramountcy of shooting1, as opposed to the paramountcy of drill, foreshadows a revolution in military systems of which it ie difficult to see the end. The bare truth is that nowadays the best shot is the best soldier. Nearly every Englishman has enough natural corirage to enable him to face the dangers of the battlefield without fear. Drill and discipline appear to do little to create or increase courage. In the Boer war, despite the large numbers of raw and untrained volunteers engaged, the only troops who ran away were regulars. Even supposing that the 'shoulder to shoulder' method inspired bravery, modern extended formations'have thrown the individual back upon himself. In short, the civilian who can shoot straight makes a more, useful soldier than the highly drilled and pipe clayed regular who can't."