DEFENCE NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 141, 13 June 1912, Page 8

DEFENCE NOTES.

(By KIFLEMAN.)

lieutenants (temporary captains) C. W. Melville, W. E. H. Bui-gess, A. B. Morton, and G. A. King, N.Z.S.C, Lieutenant J. T. .Sta_id_sh, R.N.Z.A., and Lieutenant W. McG. Tnrfflbull. N.Z.S.C., have qualified in subject C for the rank of captain. Second Lieutenant -A. H. Piper, N.Z.S.C.. has been posted for duty to the Auckland Military District. Captains F. Synion and K. B. Sinytie. K.N.2.A., will not now arrive in Hew Zealand until Ist October, their period of training in India bavins been extended. A general order notices that tbe aGjutant of infantry at Paeroa Military District) is Captain A. B. Morton, and not Lieutenant G. C S. Dyer, who has beeu attached for duty to the headquarters of the (jth (Hauraki) Begi-ient. The next half-yearly examination of Territorial officers in s-übjec-is B, 1), and X (part 1., "Tactical Fitness 10. Command") will be held at Auckland, liumilton, aud Whangarei ou Tuesday. Wednesday, and Thursday. _Otb. 21st, aud _ud August. Officers commanding units are expected to submit to District Headquarters by Ist July a return of oil otiicers desirous of attending the .xamiuati'.'n. Following is the official dispatch received from tie Secretary of State for the Colonies by his Excellency the Governor, with reference to the signal honour oouferred upon certain Territorial units: —"Downing-street, Bth March, 1912. My Lord,—l have tHe honour to request you to inform your ilmisters that His Majesty has beeu graciously jileased to 'become Colonel-in-Chief of the 3rd (Auckland Mounted Rifles) and of the Ist (Canterbury Ra_ ruent of Infantry. - I am, etc., L. Hareourt.", The purport of the above dispatch has already beeu conveyed to the 3rd 'AuciJandi M.R. by Lord Islington, and it has been suitably ack- , nowledged. Lieutenant Waiters, formerly of A Squadron, 3rd (Auckland") Mounted Rifles, is no.v I attached to B Squadron. He will "nave I Charge of the Papakura troop. Lieutenant Lucas, of the supernumerary list, has been attached to A Squadron. The regiment is | beginning to resume active operations again 'after the natural respite following upon the annual training camp. In this month of i June, the first month of the Territorial | year, there ore. of course, very many recruits 'who have come forward from the ranks of the Senior Cadets, and have beeu posted to various squadrons in the reglmeut. An enthusiast!, defender of the kilt rrceuflv wrote on the subject of this raiment to General Gcdley. In his reply, the Comnuindant say.:—"l am afraid that it is quite out of the ouestion that we can yet think of the qnertion of full dress for anybody. Tbe expenses of starting the new scheme are proving very great, and it : is only with the greatest care and strictest economy that we can keep them down to an amount which will be acceptable to the country. TJie men have not yet got all their khaki uniform evep, and till : they have got their working dress, and till we have paid for the new gu_s and the ■many other expenses which have to be incurred to start ihe new scheme, it is quite impossible for mc to approach the Government on the subject of full dress. At the same time, there is not the least reason why those who have kilts should not wear them at any private parades or sccial functions, and "in the near future, as won as everybody Is properly clothed and equipped with his working dress, aud the expenditure has resumed its normal amount, we may then consider the possibility, should full dress be sanctioned, of clothing certain battalions in the .Scottish national garb. At the conclusion of 'the fortnightly lecture at the Officer.' Club last Friday. Colonel Wolfe referred in feeling terms to ', the great loss the district and the Do- ! minion had sustained in the untimely death of Lie.ut.-C'olonel Abbott. D.'S.O. Thi 1 deceased officer was held in the highest esteem and regard wherever he was known, not ouly as an officer of brilliant .Tttainmenrs, but as a comrade and a man; A motioD of sympathy with the relatives was j carried in silence, all standing. At a subsequent meeting of the club, it was decided I to empower The committee 'in take stepcjto have a memorial -tablet erected by Ihe J club, independent of any outside memorial. i as 'Colonel" Abbott's services for many years past had laid the olub under a deep debt of obligation to hipj. The committee met immediately, and the ecn „on of a tablet, in some place to be decided later, is nowwell under way. A largo number of e_contingeuters have expressed a wish ,t> erect, a memorial also, as have many prominent citizens, and the club committee was authorised to assist any outside movement in addition to the Garrison officers' memorial. A meeting of ex-contingenters and others will probably be couven-.-d at an early date. I In the 3rd (Auckland' Infantry Regiment, Second-Lieutenants D. J. A. Tole aud P. P. Canghpy have been posted to ••!_'_' and "B" companies, respectively; Private T. E. (Walker has been appointed to be a serI scant in "X" Company; Lance-Sergeaut i Hauson has been promoted to be a sergeant, and Corporal Harlc to bo a lance-sergeant, In "X" Company. About, cue hundred mem. ers of the ImI psriaj Veterans' Association .paraded in | front of the Queen Victoria statue in Christi church ou the Sunday before the King's | Birthday, iv memory of departed comrades who died in the South African War, and in commemoration of the declaration of . peace between Briton and Boer. Lieut-Col. ' Slater, ia the course of nn address, comI recited on the fact that there were before I him men who had taken pan. in campaigns before the majority of people had 'been born. These men linked the territorials to the Crimea, and to the Indian Mutiny, and they had iv their day beeu linked by veterans to the days of the Peninsula and Waterloo. The present generation was truly in succession -to the men who bad fought at Cressy and Agincourt. and shat should pur backbone into the present generation. The ""-eterans could still do much for the country by showing how discipline and obedience had saved 'the j_mpire. and how necessary it would be when they had to stand side by side to defend the country, 'their homes, and their owu people. The Dunediu Garrison, and No. 2 Compauv New Zealand Engineers in particular. ! is losing the services or Major G. D. Ross. i V.D.. who. in consequence of promotion in the service of 'the Cnion ..team Ship Corn-panv, leaves on Juue 15 for Sydney. ! Major Ross has been identified with rhe I Punedin Engineers since 1596. when he joined a? lieutenant. He c.-.nimeneed to render military service to his country in

ISS6 with the Dunedin Xavals as.- _' ■ Two and a-half years later he .__£__}-- -to the Port Chalmers Naval*, and i_nS accepted a commission as lieutenant inT Battery, Garrison Artillery, joini__ «. Engineers with the same rank __si_s_ In 1903 Lieut. Boss was promoted J-T - ---captain, and in 1911 he qualified __ v. majority aud his V.D. With the _„_ tion of a few months on the .Reserve Mt. I Ross has had an unbroken period of-* 1 vice since he commenced and joiner? _?' forces, and has had 22 years of _£g8 sioned service. He holds .the position £ I Commissioner of Boy Scouts for the n_,E | district. a »* i Owing to the lamented death of tw : Colonel Abbott ou the vov;ig e out fr_ | England, there -will necessarily have to _ some re-arrangement of the apn o i ote .,°' and transfers originally notified S,,' j ant-Colonel Abbott was to ____;£,, I charge of the Canterbury Military r_w* relieving Lieutenant-Colonel Bhraett-sSX (Director of Military Operations and InM lligencei. Lieutena__.Colonel Bauchop _«. has been undergoing a course of saidr i England, was to have taken charm it Otago Military District, vice Colonel Sm.ti. who was to 'take over the Auckland m_ trict. Colonel Wolfe would thereby i_Ss be;-n enahled to join the staff at MS. quarters, where he was to occupy tha _fi of Adjutant-General during Colonel Robinabsence iv England. - a Thus General Sir Robert Baden-P0m,,,, "Learn to play the game always; play 7:1 your side and not for yourselves, thea y„. will be playing for yonr country rati, fellows who will obey orders we _,i. who will obey orders under all cireuw stances, for those are the fellows who can' be put into a tight place, and who mi stick to whatever they are asked to _„ We had New Zealanders who did this dn_ ing the South African Wax, men we conS trust in a tight place to do their trort and do it well, and I want you lads 5 emulate and follow in the footsteps of ._ fathers." . . .