TERRITORIAL NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 303, 19 December 1912, Page 8

TERRITORIAL NOTES.

(By BIFI——A*S-"> ti The General Officer ("tommanding has f< glvem instructions that the regulation khaki " service dress is to be worn as uniform by li officer's and men attending the naval and o (military tournament at Christchnrch at n a lnsti_as time, either as competitors or t officials. No out-of-date uniforms are to be o worn, o The latest claim for eseanptlon from at- * tendance at a Saturday parade was that of a young man who. being a Jew, submitted that he should not be required to attend parade on the Jewish Sabbath. Ascertain- c ing that the young man did not refrain from I plying his calling on Saturdays the Depart- B ment declined to grant ex eruption. r Meanbers of the Kiwi Defence Rifle C_nb s presented the Minister of Defence (Eon. s James Allen), who is patron of their club, I with a gold badge of the club, on the eve t of his departure for England. Mr Allen was c (genuinely surprised and flattered, and in- c timated that he would bring ont from Home j a trophy for presentation to the Kiwi Club. r He has been one of the stalwarts of defence r matters ln Otago for many years. 3 1 The "honorary territorial" movement, 6 which toot its inception in Dnnexlin, is mak- 8 ing great headway _ that town. The en- r thn_lasts propose to direct their energies to- £ wards helping along the cause of rifle shoot- £ ing among the active territorials. With the a Insistent demands made by the necessarily * elementary training which has to be covered I under the defence scheme, rifle shooting, but c for the keenness of some of our rifle clubs. Is in danger of becoming a lost art. A territorial who was brought before Mr s Thomson, S.M., at Feildiilg, charged with £ failing to comply with the defence regala c tions, has already served one term of im- t prisonnient for "conscience' sake," and stLl ' refuses to comply with the law. He asserted 1 that he could not disobey the Divine com- f mand, "Thou shalt not kill." The Bench £ very kindly pointed out that defendant need -- not go into the fighting line; but that he ■* could be drafted to the ambulance corps, I where h's work would be to preserve the ' lives of both friend and enemy. Defendant t was like adamant, and contended that ambu- I lance work did not make the difference, as ' the others would be doing tbe killing. The Bench thereupon sail that he could not be treated as a conscientious objector, and would be fined 20/, with 7/ costs. Defendant remarked that no would not pay the fine. Some parting advice given by Mr A. M. Myers, M.P.. to the Minister for Defence, , when proposing the toast of "The Navy 1 and Army" at the farewell given to the Hon. James Allen on the eve of the latter's departure for Britain—"Tell Lord Roberts that we thoroughly agree with his advocacy J of general compulsory military training, aau that national service In New Zealand is no: a fact, but ls au unqualified success. You can tell him that the compulsory service ' scheme "nas passed its experimental stage, and that New Zealand is prepared to this extent to uke its share of the Empire s defence." A Dunedin writer, referring to a matter , tiiat has lately occupied the attention of the local Presbytery, says, very quietly:—"The use of the 6abbath ls largely a matter lor determination by the individual conscience, and the soldier who gains bodily strength and military efficiency on Sunday offends <uo more flagrantly than the oarsman, the yachtsman, the motorist, the golfer, or the bandsman training for a contest, all 01 whom make free use of the Sunday for their purposes. However undesirable it is that cadets should devote Sunday to military , training, so far as week-end camps to- Territorials arc concerned, taking into consideration the way in which the majority of young meu spend their Sundays; recognising the obvious fact that but a modes! ' proportion of them attend church services on Sunday morning: remembering that attendance at the Sunday parades is opt.onai, that Divine service is Invariably held at camp, and that al! are free in lime to attend church services in the evening, it is a fair - canelusion that week-end caj—ps are a source of benefit to tbe men Instead of a curse." Great interest is being taken in the Slas--1 terton military "strike," the inimediate outcome of which has been that a lance-corporal was reduced to the rants and sixteen men were fined £1 each by the O.C. The fines, 1 it is understood, have been paid, but the ! source of the trouble is that the men take ; exception to being drilled by a "boy," who, they allege, was promoted from second lieutenant to be lieutenant in charee over the ' j heads of senior officers. An official inquiry ; 1 will be held. As the matter appears to a disinterested observer at this distance, the . I fellows, when tbey have a grievance, would do much better to lay a formal complaint 1 through the recognised c-aanneLs before the ; senior officer, whose duty it is to deal with , some things. Strikes are childish when they are carried out on the spur of the > moment without exhausting all the manly and straightforward means of trying to s.-t 1 things to rights. It seems to be so absurd to get excited about anything less important than a football match, s Thus the eChainnan of the Board ot f Governors (.Mr \Y. H. Coilingwood) at the . prize-giving of the Palmerston North HU_ School:—"—very youth should be proud to ' be a unit in the military force of a countrj 5 whose motto is 'defence' rather than de- ; fiance,' whose aim and watchword Is "free- , dom.' Even if you look upon the compulsory side only, you must consider military 1 training in the same light as you do 1 studies, your observance of the laws wnic_ i (govern your country. Compulsion is a.l . around you. bui you need not look at it in that light only. If you consider your m_iI tary duty as a bulwark to the freedom of , yonr countrj". just as you consider yonr studies an aid to success in future life, you will never feel the hardship o* universal training. In these times there is no room 1 for the shirker who endeavours to hide be- » hind his religious objections, which in many cases are only another name for cowardice and laziness- And to the parents I say, encourage your boys to volunteer. The training will give them the necessary physical exercise to make their bodies strong and sound, 8: caskets for the sound mind which their mental education has developed, and if ever the necessity arises when they have to fight to defend their home and country. I am sure that in the last great analysis the fact that they fought will not count against them, but the question will be, how did they 1 fight, and why?" r There are now serving In the Auckland military district three staff sergeant-majors J who were non-commissioned officers in the original No. 1 Company.—of New Zealand 9 (Natives (now "B" Company. Third Begilnentl. These -f.CO.'s are Staff Sergeant.Major 'Walker, who ls stationed at Helens--0 ville: Staff Sergeant-Major A. J. King, at Auckland; and Staff Sergeant-Major N. C 0 Busby, at Paeroa. It is understood that the above N.C.O.'s were the only successful candidates from the Auckland garrison, and the 0 -'old boys" of the "Number Ones" are rea'.ly proud of their comrades' efficiency and sucr cess, which reflects great credit on the company commander. '" The following promotions have been notified in the regimental orders issued by r L'eutenant-Colonei A. Bartlett to the 3rd (Auckland! Regiment of Infantry:—A Company: Corporal I_ Gammell to be lance--0 sergeant, Lance-Corporal F. W. Sinclair to be corporal. B Company: Sergeant E. O. i- Frlcker to be colour-sergeant. Corporal J. Cox to be sergeant. Corporal J. L. Prescott to be lance-sergeant. Lance Corporal *' H. JNeil to be corpora;. Privates C. H. Jolly - and Doughty to be lance-corporals. C Ooma pany: Sergeant W. H. Gun_all to be colouT-sergeant, Corporal H. G. Treanor to be sergeant, L-anee-Sergeant A. V. Marriott ' x to-be sergeant, Lance-Corporals — Wiseman and F. R. Foreman to be corporals. o D Company: Corporal C. Ingram to be tance-sergeant. Privates E. P. Donbledav, 3. H. S. Pickard. and L. W. Nairn to be lance-corporals. E Company: Sergeant C. Oxen—a-m to be co'our-sergeant. —_nce-Ser-t, geant A. Shove to be sergeant. Corporal ci. J. Holhnger to be lance sergeant, Private N. Infield to be lance-corporal. The Wanganul Methodist Synod has taken np the crudgels on behalf of the Rev. J. A. Lnxford "and the church which he '• represents." it being alleged that an In- -- dignity bas been offered him by the Defence authorities. The Synod's side of the story j. Is to this effect:—When the Rev. J. A. L_-ford wesnt to South Africa as chaplain to the contingents during the war. he was o appointed <-r_aplain-Cap_in under an Act i; of Parliament. On his return tie was pro--0 moted to be chaphtin-major. T_at is, he was given rank which entitled him to command. r > Scce the inauguration of the compulsory 31 military training scheme a number of terrt- \[. torial chaplains have heen appointed, but the wording of their commissions has not J given them power to command. It is apparl entry the intention of th» 'defence authori-

ties now to correct commissions issueel before t_e inauguration of the territorial scheme, so that all chaplains will, in future, only be able to e_te__tse their spiritual power. That ls they will have status only, withoot rank and the au—ioriry over the troops which that rank carries with it. The result is achieved by the omission of the following words from the new commissions: " ... by exercising and well disciplining both your inferior officers and roe—tiers of the said corps; and we do hereby command "them to obey you as direeaion from time to time you shall receive from us, or from the Governor for the time being of New Zealand, or from your superior officers according to the rules and disci- , pline of our said territorial forces in pursu ance of the trust imposed in you. - '

Recently the Bey. Luxford and other chaplains received an order from the Defence Department "to return their commissions to District Headquarters for correction." This means that the words giving the chaplains definite and re»co_ni=ed rank were to be excised from the commission. The Rev. Luxford maintalns that since he was- given rank by an Act ot Parliament and "at a date prior to the introduction of the territorial movement, the order should not apply to him nor orher ehap.ains similarly situated. Air. Luxford, it may be added, holds the South African medal and bars for active service His name appears in the Army List as ChaplainMajor. A Prerss Association telegram from Wanganui says: "The Rev. J. A. Luxford status that he has been instructed that as chaplain of the Defeince force he eioea not hold rank, althoug— both his commission and his South African medals acknowledge the rank. He insists that the action of the Defence Department is ultra vires because section 0, part 1, of the Defence Act conserved rank to all officers of the late volunteer companies." TERRITO_IAL HARKS"—HN. The members of B company fired the seconij- match for Captain Courts' trophy at the Penrose rang,e last Saturday. Tne conditions were 2.3 system, with penalties, the cnmpetiior scoring b points to be the winner. A rri;ky wind prevailed, which made shooting very dimcult. Ranges were 600 yds and 700y_=. Following are the chief scores:—Private Lippiatt, 600yei3 42, 700 yds 41, total 93: Private Beasley, 43, 36—93; Sergeant Devore, 40. 37—91; Private Doughty. 34, 38—90; Sergeant Cox, 44, 29— S3; Sergeant Harris, la, 40—SO. Points scored are: Lippiatt 3, Beasley 2, Devore 1. Leading aggregates are: Lippiatt 3, Devore 3, Cos 3.