THE TRAINING OP OUR VOLUNTEERS.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10739, 20 August 1900, Page 4

THE TRAINING OP OUR VOLUNTEERS.

The Coramaodant of the Fetees {Colonel Pole Penton), in his annual report, has very rightly come to the conclusion that •'on. system o{ trifling volunteers requires complete change," and he adds, "Unless " we can devise some means of getting men " to come oil. and carry out field -work by "daylight, and learh the real part of a "Soldiers work, we cannot consider our " volunteer forces efficient." Colonel Penton goes even further than this, however, aad says, "I have tried in every way to " encourage the volunteers to come out for ■' daylight drills in the open, but hitherto "I have met witli little success." The question arises as to who is responsible for the* Condition of things which give, occasion to this note of failure. Is it the

Defence system, or are the volunteers themselves* to blame? In either case, what is the remedy? At the present time the lot oi the vol-Htee. is rrot one long thrill oi joy. Iv return for the munificent capitation grant of £2 10s per annum, which, if he is careful, about pays for his uniform, he is expected to attend a certain number of drill-hall parades each year; to go into camp for seven days; and to Undertake minor sundry obligations. No effort appears to be put forward to make his drill interesting to him, and the few field parades possible usually serve to provide a fair amount of hardi work without the satisfaction of a corresponding benefit in the way of practi_ai instruction. The result is stated" in- the Commandant's report. A few :*n.h__iasfc. perform- their duties! thoroughly* while a large proportion scrape through with, a __inimu_a of attention to what is faired of them. Golonel Penton has failed to find the remedy; yet the cause of the existing state of things ge-to- clear enough. If our volunteer system can b_ taade sufllci_atly att._ctivi'to induce young men to .apparently is— it should go a s.epVfeithe- 1 snd provide a taeans of exciting of the men in the duties they are expected to perform.

How is this to be done? Volunteering in some respects' resembles our national forms of athletic sports, cricket and football. While young men play these games for the sake of the games themselves, they would! _i_ver ta_sa sp.h interest in the play, and. arrive at the stage of perfection they do, were it not for the weekly contests between the different clubs. But for the spirit oi emulation .h__ fast-red these forms ot sports would languish, as do the volunteer field parades of which Golonel Penton speslks so despondently. "Why; then, should not interest in volunteering b& stimulated and -U-fci-ih-d in the same manner as the forms of outdoor sport mentioned. Let regular drill contests of various kinds be inaugurated between the different corps in a district; more frequent shooting matches might be held, with liberal ammunitioii prizes, and a _ystem of handicaps which would encourage the poorer shots; while other forms of competition could' no doubt also be arranged, which, in addition to

increasing the interest in volunteering, would improve tlie efficiency of the men. The field work could be made more attractive by means of properly-planned sham fights—not the haphazard, go-as-you-pleas--sort of things sometimes seen here. These ought to provide quite as valuable a means of practical training as does the practice of tramping the country and taking cover from an imaginary and invisible enemy. Interest in these mimic battles could be promoted by the judge having the disposal of ammunition -prizes or a trophy, to be awarded to the company which best acquits itself in attack or defence. This is but a rough outline of what might bs done. It is possible that the introduction of such competitions might grate harshly upon the superfine sensibilities of some of our military experts. We are quite prepared to admit that the re-organisation of our defence force is a large question, and that a good deal will have to be done besides what is suggested in this article. That it will be one valuable means to tbe end in view, however, we have little doubt. The military tournaments occasionally organised by the volunteers give an idea of the state of perfection the men are prepared to work up to in order to acquit themselves with credit

in inter-corps drill contests, and the wonder is that the military authorities have not already seen how they can profit by this circumstance. The cost of arranging regular and frequent competitions would! be comparatively slight, while the benefit should prove almost incalculable.