DEFENCE NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 92, 11 January 1908, Page 14

DEFENCE NOTES.

(Br Echelon.)

Secretaries .of Volunteer Corps,, and . Rifle Clubs are invited to- contribute items of interest for insertion in this , column. It is understood, (says "The Haversack") th'at Captain- Richardson, ; Director- of - Ordnance, is arranging that • this" same : range officer mil attend all -practices of. tho;'G.A:Y. throughout the Dominion. This, will Censure a greater uniformity of observation.. In the past' it' has -teen tie practice' tp. send out .4 non-commissioned officer from the.R:N.Z:A.:. at each station, but tho new arrangement will be much-more; satisfactory. Implacements are now being built at tho North Head (Auckland) for the 6in. B.L. Mark VII. guns, which have been in: storo at. Auckland for the past three or" four-years. These guns are the most up-to-date in the district, and it is understood that all the old model 6in. guns in the other forts will i shortly be replaced by weapons of a similar , nature. . . : No. 3, Company Garrison "Artillery land) went into camp at Fort Takapuna yesterday for 16 days' training. A drill-was neld at the gunroom, at tho Drill Hall, on January 8. Captain Richardson,' Director of Artillery, will be present throughout the camp. The other garrison artillery corps /will go under canvas' shortly afterwards. Captain Forbes, of the No. 2 Auckland Garrison Artillery, has decided to resign his - comniand of: the company; Tho billet of , a volunteer "skipper" is no: sinecure,. entailing as it-docs a perpetual, attention, to tho minutiae of administration. The company's • annual meeting will be'held after Easter,'and Captain Forbes will then hand over tho reins to his successor or next in commaiKL Captain Forbes began his volunteering'ais , a humble private N in 1899 in the Ormohdyillo Union Rifles, but before the year, was out he had Jumped to the command of the company.. When lie came to Auckland he joined tho No. 1 Natives as a subaltern, but loft them 'to bccomo a' subaltern in the Ntf'-'"8 6.A. three years ago next Juno. In March, of 1906, ho -was elevated tB tho comniand of tho company in succession to Captain Barag- . wanath resigned. ■. ■ The proposal for the formation of a Naval Volunteer Reserve at Auckland, made to the Defence j Council; by Captain ?. Archibald; formerly ;' officer commanding the -Petone Navals,.;arid Captain, C. P. Murdoch,, of the Auckland Navalsj is now before the authorities, and. some pronouncement .is expected within- a; fow days. Details of proposed training aro set out, and.it is stated'that it might bo possible, when H.M.. ships are in port,, to obtain the services of _riavy.:nien"'as instructors pro. tern." Captains Archibaldand Murdoch think , that arrangements could ' be made' with the Admiralty, to take' men belonging to such corps to sea occasionally, thus giving them a taste of the practical work as carried on in the deep water. As : a substitute for, this, should it be found impracticable, it is suggested that during the visits of the Amokura to the various ; ports, the boys might •be sent ashore for exercise and training, and- the men of the . corps .sent to the ship in their stead. ; The writers of the letter, begged ter and the Council of JDefence, would put the matter before the Admiral commanding the station.—"Rifleman."

GARRISON ARTILLERY',VOLUNTEERS.

' A new company, No. 6! Company,; New Zealand ; Engineer Volunteers, ! otherwise known : as the s - Submarine Mining Corps, . which_,was decently some;time' ago, has , risen from the dead,- having beenreincarnated. The- signalling squad of the old corps was. a combination .which had. a .record to -be proud ;of. Its' first competitive success was achieved at the military" tournament held in 1903 at Petone. Then followed another record when the squad, competing at ■Wanganuj, camo first with a score of 198 out' of a possible 200,' beating tho next team by 2S points. Encouraged by this they proceeded to Duncdin in 1905 and were again victorious with 98.7 per cent, of marks, beat-' ing the favourites (the Christchurch Engineers),, whose, score was 81.1 per cent. Last year they again competed, and at the Exhibition tournament secured the championship against 15 other teams,'representing every arm of the Service in New Zealand. On this occasion they were closely followed in their score of 192.45 points by their old rivals, tho Christchurch Engineers, who jScored 189.5. The success that-has attended: this squad is enhanced by the fact that none of. the men are telegraphists in - civil lifej nor was signalling: part of their duties submarine mining engineers.- The work was merely taken .up -by Sorgt. Adair as a hobby, and any one who is acquainted with I'flag--wagging" will appreciate the hard work entailed, without which such a record could never have been accomplished. ' The British submarino fleet has just taken to .flaunting a special'flag of its.'own: Thecreation is a_ tricolour—yellow, blue, 'and red and is divided into four, with a device in each quarter, A submarino figures approp-i riatoly in one quarter, with-three torpedoes in another, and white mice in'the other portions. -The white mice, of course," are a'reBlinder of the fact that these .hiimblo animals are kept on all submarines. They are very delicate creatures, sensitive'to any: poisonous gases, and should there'bp-' anv' leakage of acid from, 'the eleotric' batteries, sotting up. deadly s fumes, they 'show'signs' of distress long before the human members, of the crew would detect anything wrong, an 3 thus they act as danger signals.-rlt isonly right that these mascots .of the, submarine should appear'on the flag., The tricolour, 'it . may be added, stands for the three, naval ports—Dcvonport, ' Portsmouth, and Chatham. -

OTAGO RIFLE ASSOCIATION,

The thirty-seventh annual > prize-firing of tho Otago Rifle Association took place atthe ,I'elichet Bay range on • Wednesday and Thursday, January 1 and 2. This vcarr, ■meoting may bo considered easily the most successful yet held. The entries • totalled 122,, as. against 108 for the previous year, and 97 the year before. Of the individual towns which sent representatives, Duncdin. was most largely represented, but Christchurch, Timaru, Waimato, Oamaru, .and Invercargill all sent men, compotitors being present from Christchurch to the Bluff. The weather conditions prevailing oyer the two days were not what' might have been, desired. On the first day there was a light fish-tail wind, which intercfered with shooting., On the second matters wore very much worse.' In fact the day was one of the worst the Association' has'-experienced from an actual shooting point of" view, an exceedingly- heavy, choppy wind prevailing. The shooting was in some instances decidedly good., This was especially so. on the first day, when three possible scores were recorded, ■ those responsible being Sapper Parker (Dunedin Engineers), at the 200 yds. distance, Private Dippie at 500 yds., and Private Duncan, also at 500. On the second day the best individual score was that of Troopor Neill (Otago Hussars), who recorded 34 at the 500 yds. distance. Among those taking part in the contests were Colonel Smith, a past rifle champion, and ex-cham-pion of New' Zealand; also Sergt. Mills and Corporal A.vson, both of whom wore members of the last New Zealand rifle team that visited Australia. On each of the two days it was lato in the evening before firing was suspended. In order to complete the programme in the two days it was found necessary ■to d°let-o one event—namely, No. • 4 event, Service Match, 300 yds. It was about a quarter past eight on the evening- of tho second day before firing was finally concluded. The light by that time was gradually fading, and when the last shot was fired there was just sufficient light to take anything like proper aim and no moro. The concluding events saw two possibles added to tho previous three registered. These were' recorded by Trooper P. Ayson, Murihiku, in the Otago Match at 600 yds., and by Sorgeant Bradley, Dunedin, in the Last Try Hatch at 500 yds.

BIG GUNS IN ACTION. A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION. Mr. H. W. Lucy contributes to the London "Daily Chronicle" the following realistic description of British battleships at target practice:— ' :

• "Accepting the axiom tlyit the best way to preserve peace is to be prepared for war, our guns aro tho paoilicators ever seen on land or.soa, They are the latest, result of science, the fitltc' product of civilisation. :-The/mechanism , thai' moves them' as if: they" wer"o k is as simple in action as it is intricate in design. Tho crew that control these monsters are seven in.number, tho officer in command completing tho /octavo. Four work . in, the depths below, whore i walls and roof present •to view a mazo,.bf.;,leyflrs, directing .various parts of the . machinery..,; Threo stand by tho officor on .the upper-deck, who, with head and shoulders 'hidden' in a sort of funnel, his'hands on- two -lovers not bigger than th& butt of, a' horsjJ-pistol, lays tho gun. the'.huge, brightly burnished tubes are raised, .depressed, trained to port or-starboard,, to-the minutest, fraction of an incli.lti is ias .-little" difficult as sotting a hand, on the face of a clock. Invited to train the guns 'on a sailing ship passing by, all uncpusci.ou?,, o£ lief I found thorn as easy to -handle :as 'a pair ,of knitting needles. MODERN MIRACLES. "Miracles are wrought by the agency of hydraulic power. -At tho touch of the magician, in tho. uniform of a lieutenant of His; M&jdSty's. Nffvy;,' tho breech of the ?un slowly opens. Another touch, and there rises silently- from tho lower depths a massive projectilo which, reaching the appointed level, turns sideways, drops the cone into .another;curved;tray,'J.which slips it into tho breech of the gun, whence. it; is rammed homo. Another pressure of . wizard finger, and up conies an inriocont-looking bundle of what at first sight ■ resembles long-thin cigars. This is cordite, a material that once blew' a Liberal 'Government out of power. Another 'pressure" 6f the hand on the appointed lever closes the breech, and all is ready for tho last touch which, applied to the-.button.of-an.elcctric wife, fires'the gun. All,'this is done ;in,'-.,twenty-one seconds. : ' AT FOUR MILES' RANGE. ,; "The" onomy is' represented by a target, thirty feet''high' by "ninetyfeet broad, which is- towed out and moored at ■ a distance of fromrthrce- and a half to four miles from thd battleship.' Obviously' this is an exacting experiment. Foiir miles is a fairly possiblo distance at which hostile .fleets would engago. A rule-of-three: sum will demonstrate how perilous . would b? - the position of a'ponderous'ironclad if, at the distance, a target to the dimensions quoted can bo hit from twenty to sixty times in tho space of-ten, minutes:"•

' '"In'prder 'to .keep 1 up the essontial- idea of the -conditionof tho unforeseen, absolute in actual war, the commander of the battleship,..whose turn;.to-fire comes next is left in-the dark as to the course he may: havo to steer;- and whether- it will necessitate fire opening from the port or starboard side. The Admii'al leads 'the W.Sy in his yacht, ,tho battleship: keeping.a'sharp look-out for signals. Almost on the horizon, fully four miles off when tho'flagship"'opened fire, .wo could see a .ruddy speck. , This was thd-target, its framework-, cohered .with' red sails. - , A WRECKED TARGET!

"Dead silence prevails'on tho crowded battleship. 1 Suddenly three flags run up on the topsail yard of,'the'Admiral's yacht. That , is' the. signalJto 'prppwe ..to fire. All eyes.are .fixed upon it: ' When'it falls tho battle will -open.--- -At the end of what seems ten minute s" anil, is'probably ono, the three-flags flutter, down -to. the deck. A .bugle sound from tho bridge-of tha battleship, and the roar, of a gun: in tho_ fore-turrijt, almost; -under the bridge on .which .we stand,/breaks .the straiijqd>'ilene,e.':i7 - , ,"Gun'answers-gun from the fore-turret to the-one aft, from which the 12in.- guns show their, tooth. One "sees along-the line of bulwark a tongue of flame, white as a Hash of lightning, leap fbrth v Thon a cloud of, thick yollow smoke, ancL-a roar that makes s the hull 'bf the battlesliiji- quiver. Glasses levelled at.,'the ( far-off. target show the sea on which, it .floats stirred,.to foam b.v tho hurricane, of shells that" suddenly disturbs tho ,placid,,surface,. Sheets of white foam leap over,the doomod-strflfiture. For, ten minutes' pandemonium lasts,,; 'Cense firing' is signalled from the Admiral's yacht. The; bugler on the bridge echoes it r and peace reigns as suddenly as ten minutes ago it was.broken. Where the-red-clad target stood upright in the sunlight.'is.seen, a, tattered wreck.