THE LAKE DISTRICT VOLUNTEER REVIEW.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XVII, Issue 831, 17 March 1885, Page 2

THE LAKE DISTRICT VOLUNTEER REVIEW.

Active preparations are now going forward in connection with the Easter Review of Volunteers from Southland and those of Lake District. The Demonstration will cover three days, beginning Good Friday, 3rd April, and closing on Easter Monday. It is anticipated that fully 300 Volunteers will be present, exclusive of bands. It is expected that from 30 to 40 of the Southland Hussars, under Captain Burwell, will take part inMihe review, and their presence, with the Artillery and their heavy guns, will form an important feature in the proceedings. It is not yet known whether the Invercargillßand will form part of the Southland contingent but it is probable they will. The local committee of management is sparing no effort to render the affair,a success, and although the Demonstration will be on a smaller scale than originally projected, there is the more certainty that it will be quite as pleasurable to onlookers, and much more useful and instructive to the combatant forces than the showy and formal proceeding which take up so much time when brigades of troops are brought together. During last week, Capt. Brown, commanding the Lake District, was present at meetings in lnvercargill and Queenstown. At the former place the officers and men look forward with the utmost pleasure to the gathering, and the Southland District will be very fully represented at the Review. The Queenstown Committee have done good work in arranging details as to steamer fares, billeting, etc., and they have also met with encouraging support in- a monetary sense from the residents in that division. The programme for the three days will be a comprehensive one, embracing a course of duty and enjoyment that should afford satisfaction to all concerned. This will be seen from a rough outline which we are in a position to place before our readers. The visiting corps will, on the morning of Good Friday, be formally received at Queensstown by their Lake comrades-in-arms. Companies will be formed and the battalion told off preparatory to the military movements to follow on succeeding days. The whole will march to the Park, where a promenade concert will be given, including the " Dead March" by the massed bands, with minute guns,.in memory of General Gordon. Saturday morning will open with a series of shooting matches by teams for substantial money prizes. One of these will embrace the fifth competition for Capt. Brown's District Belt, which, by general consent, has been postponed from St. Patrick's Day. The battalion will parade during the forenoon, and be put through a ■ number of manoeuvres. In the afternoon, sports will be held, including foot-racing, leaping, tilting, tug-of-war, and a variety of other athletic exercises. At 8 p.m. a Band contest will take place in the Town Hall, for which prizes amounting to £2O will be given. On Sunday there will be a church parade, and after evening service a sacred concert will be given by the bands. It is also probable that a short trip up the Lake will be made during the afternoon, should the weather prove propitious. Monday will be devoted to a review of the troops at Frankton, a spot admirably suited for the purpose. Military sports will also be held here, principally arranged for the Hussars—such as hurdle-racing, sabrepractice, etc. The gathering probably be brought to a close by a grand ball in the evening, the various companies returning home early on Tuesday morning. From the above it will be gathered that the arrangements necessary to carry out the programme involve a considerable expenditure of time and money by the management, and it is gratifying to know that both are being given ungrudgingly in furtherance of success. Such success will redound to the credit of the Volunteer District as a whole, and it is therefore the duty of all sections of the District to accord a liberal measure of support to the Committee in their endeavors. That this will be granted we do not doubt, in which case nothing but a highly gratifying result can come of the Lake District Review.