BIG GUN PRACTICE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13908, 6 December 1910, Page 3

BIG GUN PRACTICE.

I -—• j A TEMPORARY PROHIBITION. j An extraordinary position lias arisen iin regard to the carrying out of tho 1 .-.uiuial class-firing of the >"o. 1 Com- | pany, N.Z.G.A.T. (Lyttelton Navals). J The company is at present in camp at j Fort Jervois, llipa Island, undergoing ; its sixteen days' training, and in acI cordanee with tho custom which has ! obtained for years past, the men have j been busily preparing to carry out I their annual class-firing. It had boen 1 arranged for tho tiring to be started J yesterday morning, and to be continued j 'up tiU Friday next. For the past nine months the "men have been preparing ; for the work, and Captain Richardson, j Director of Artillery, has been in camp I with the company, making arrange- | nients and instructing the officers and men. On Saturday evening, to the surprise of everybody, an order came f,om the Officer Commanding the IhsTrJct., stating that no tirinc was to be done while the warships H.M.S. Powerful and H..M.S. Cambrian were lying ;it anchor in tho harbour. As the warships will not bo leaving until Friday next, the day on which the company will break up its camp, this order means that the whole of the members Jof tho company will be put to the I greatest inconvenience in carrying out j their annual firing. Angles of the line of fire have been taken"l>>" the officers, which show that the Powerful and Cambrian are well clear of tho danger zone, and will not be interfered with in any way. The officers of No. 1 Company are in the position that they cannot communicate I with tho Admiral, from whom it is presumed the objection has come, except through the Officer Commanding tho j District. The whole nffnir is most unfortunate, nnd is regarded -with the greatest indignation and disappointment by tho men who have been working with tho object of trying to beat their splendid shooting record of last year, when the company won the Coast Defence Challenge Cup and Shield. It is considered that if proper representations were made to his Excellency tho Admiral, the matter might bo arranged so that the warships could, if necessary, be moved further up the hari,,.,,..

Wo are informed by the naval authorities that neither his Excellency Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Poore, C.V.0., nor the car-tain of H.M.S. Powerful has been approached in connection with the firing to be carried out from Fort, Jervois by the members of No. 1 Company G.A.T. They state that they know nothing whatever about tho matter.