DEFENCE NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 306, 19 September 1908, Page 9

DEFENCE NOTES.

(Bt Echelon.) CARRISON AND FIELD ARTILLERY. ' CAPTAIN RICHARDSON'S ANNUAL REPORT. . SOME INTERESTING ITEMS. In The Dominion of.Wednesday last there appeared, under the heading of "Our Artillery," a general review of the progress and condition of tlie field. and garrison artillery corps of Now Zealand, as contained in the annual report of the Chief Instructor of Artillery Services, . Captain G. S! Richardson, and published in book form by tho Government Printing Office. The report is an illuminating review of tho work, of what is perhaps the most.efficient branch of-the New Zealand Forces, and'every artilleryman— every volunteer, in fact—should possess himself of a copy. Considerations of spaco made it impossible to traverse, more than in a very general way, tho full test of tho report, and much interesting matter .was unavoidably, held over. I append • herewith a number of interesting items. : .... Every garrison artillery company has been graded "A" for efficiency, and eight of the ten companies have obtained a first-class figure of merit for. shooting. Thore is no reason why the garrison artillery; should not. always be kept in a state of efficiency, if, instead, of carrying out an . annual practice as at present, quarterly practices were -instituted during the year: these , practices, to be Chiefly for. night firing.' Paid night parades - to bo held on 1 these. occasions. • ; ' '■ ; ' ■ Owing to the excellent instruction imparted by-the Royal New-Zealand Artillery, it has been customary for somo volunteer officers to leave the training of' their commands to bp ' carried out almost entirely by the Royal Ifbw - Zealand Artillery; Staff, a system which is detrimental to the. development of good officers.' This, however,- is now .'being remedied, and company officers-are realising the'importance of personally instructing their : own men. ' .Authority was given during/the year, for officers Of .tho Garrison Artillery to attend gun practice of any ships of the Royal Navy .that-visit New Zealand waters from time to' time. Unfortunately, advantage was not taken of thiSj.either through the inability of ; officers to'-attend,/or other causes, although several officers.of; the Roy4l Navy attended garrison artillery practice during tho season. : At the present time every N.C.0., or man, who qualifies at the- annual examination, receives a certificate .and £1; after passing three years in succession, £2. This..system is not altogether satisfactory. It .is recom-niended.that.each.-N.0.0, and man-l>e. graded for proficiency, "and that gunners he graded l .®® first-cliss and" socondrclaas -gunners,- "simi- ■ Jai'lytotho . Royal New Zealand Artillery, according -to' the results' 'of' their eraminatioiLi It* would also be; an advantage if .men could 'roceiyo their prizes and proficiency badgea immediately after tho annual training camp, instead ,of 'waiting, as at present, for six months,; as is sometimes,.tho.case. - Authority .was given during the past' year to- form , a company for electric'lighting duties at Auckland- and Wellington, respeo- . tively, but, so far, only one company lias : boen_formed, at' Wellington. This company, is cotaposed chiefly of mechanics from' engineering'works; and has itself, a inost .promising'corps. It did-excellent,work ;at rthe; annual training camp',.;as. well as-at, tho Easter manoeuvres, and'has proved, that the highly technical duties of electric lighting for coast'defence can be effectively caa> ried out .by volunteers, if men are specially selected and a few experts are used'..with 1 relief to supervise the din" a" v small section of volunteer elocono lighting specialists is attached to No. 1 Company N.Z.G.A.V., and is, doing, good work; At Canterbury the field- engineers ;'are -at present'used with satisfactory, results, but, as they would be required for ' other dutiea in war, an elcctric lighting section in necessary. At Auckland there are'no volunteers to assist the small section ,of regulars to run the electric light. A company is urgently re-' quired in the Auckland district. ■ . ■'• There is a marked improvement in signalling since, last year, . whon there were only. . twenty-four signallers, with an average figure of merit of .397; this year there are seventyfive trained signallers, with an' average figure of merit of .799. All ' garrison artillery signallers are' trained in International Code signalling, _ telephono operating, Yand look-out duties, in addition to ordinary signalling by Morso and semaphore. Those companies, which trained their sigaallers by eatablishing long-distance stations at the weekly drills throughout tho year,' wero most, successful in' tho_examination as compared with? those companies which attempted 'to traia solely in their drill shed. , , A higher standard ,in field artillery work cannot .be.'obtained unless batteries, fully, horsed,,go .into camps of continuous, training, or camps of instruction of sixteen days' duration .-as at present, to be followed by; four, days' continuous training for gun practices, etc. - An-experiment is being tried by "D ■ Battery next. Season of. holding a' twelvedays' instructional camp'(mornings . and evenings) followed .by four' days'; continuous training near the-. practice,..ground.' The trouble in making satisfactory arrangements for the supply .• of suitable. .horses isvery great. An effort is, however, being, made to' obviate; tbis by arranging local '■ While the fire discipline of all the; field, batteries is good, tho fire effect is not relatively, , good. This-is chiefly owing to- tlie conditions of practice, which are much harder than formerly. Targets aro always.made very l^indistinct, and in many., series layers- never sea tho, targets. In compliance with instructions from the-Council of Defence,-indirect ,firo from concealed positions has not been, carried out: this; season, all series having been: fired from positions either on the forward crest or in tho open. . . -An effort was made to get the Field 'Engineers to co-operate with field-batteries at by using a field telephone. - run out as far forwaTd as would bopermissiblo when' co-operating with infantry in attack; The experiment was only, carried, out in Dunedin and Christchurch—in both', casos very successfully.-, The "B" Battery (Dunedin) was i tho only corps to qualify as first class for shooting—a result largely contributed to "by. the assistance the B.C. received from the field telephone. " Fortunately very littlo difficulty is now experienced in getting good practice grounds. Farmers now generally sympathise with the volunteer movement, and as a rule do all in their power to facilitate artillery practice being carried out by removing stock from areas seloctcd.for practico, etc. The. signallers of "D " Battery are exceptionally good. It is, however, , apparent that the training of signallers throughout the winter season is neglected in some batteries. The practical examination in range-finding' was satisfactory in most cases, but the work at the sbrvico practice was raroly good. The field sketching of "D" Battery range-takers | was excellent. The gun-laying of. "B" Battery was very good. Some remarkably quick work has been done in "turning out," the times being as undor: —"A", Battery (Auckland), oniin. 30sec.; "B" -Battery (Dunedin), 3min. 35sec.: "D" Battery (Wellington), 3min. 30sco. : "E" Battery (Christchurch), omin. 30sec.• "H" Battery (Nelson)r 3inin. 45 soo. (no wagons).

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