EASTER MANOEUVRES

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 478, 10 April 1909, Page 6

EASTER MANOEUVRES

;.'; AT ORINGI. THE FIELD COLUMN AND ITS DOINGS. FIRST DAY "AT THE FRONT." . (bt telegraph—special bbpoetek.) Dannevlrke, April 9; ■' '-'■'■■ A week ago .Oringi, which lies ■ beacon Woodville and Dannevlrke, about six miles south of the latter place,, was a peaceful' farming community—flanked on either ■ side by the mountains. An undulating plain Stretches north-eastward—the face scarred with .the deep erosions of a vagrant river and its tributary streams, and, ..hero and- , • there,'one halts short on tho edge,.of:,an abrupt fall, terrace by terrace, to the river ' bed. Clumps of standing bush, and the •black skeletons of the bush that was,,and ; . freakish .knolls, which,.stand out.,.from,, the, face of the plain, are the salient i.featiires .'■'-'- of tho country. ... A Martial Scene. There is;nothing really unusual about,its, -aspect. Taken at a superficial glance, it...is very much like ,the. Forty Milo Bush country farther south, but, when on© examines, it more closely, its eccentricities become gradually conspicuous to the eye. The process is not unlike the development of a , negative- plate'in a dark room, when first , . the salients—the "high lights^'—appear, and, later, the details. Oringi .is now no "." longer a farming community. .For the nonce .:.'/-. it is instinct with ■ the sudden circumstance of war. ..; A Grain or Two of Strategy. 'A foreign Government, it seems, has:beeii : , twisting lie tail '• of the British Lion,.,and ■ is now engaged in'.a desperate, but, it is. to be hoped a futile, attempt to seize one of '. .' the "cubs"—-New Zealand to ,wit. _ Tjhe in- ,:..-:, vader has mad© a successful landing, and is said to be advancing from Porangahau •.'•-. upon Woodville, which, from its position its j on important railway junction, offers,a suitable vantage point. Their ■ advance lies through' Oringi, peaceful no.', longer. The :.:.-. outward and visiblo signs of what tho. books ..■call'-"a. military operation", -are'everywhere'| apparent.' In short, -an. army,- and, to be': ;. strictly ; precise,.; "a composite field force" "•—a brigade, in. fact—is 'now- encamped at .Oringi ready to destroy the invaders, or, '■ if circumstances so unfortunately ordain'it,' ■to be itself destroyed.. Mounted men are'l \ 'flying about in various directions,'the sig-', nals'of the "flag waggers" flutter from • one : - vantage'point "to another,; picket- lines -0f- ,.; horses,, a vast arrangement of tents, a" fields battery, infantry," in companies: and in bat--talions, spring into view,at the call of a : bugle, and. dissolve again as quickly. Camp ',',.\',\ fires crackle, and .flame,- the .smokp'enfolding' the camp kettles, which squat above . that is Oringi as it" is and will be' for tn'e . nest ..few. days.'. Troop Trains by Night. ■ ... -To-day is a. day.of preparation ■ and ofv ~-'.-■' organising: Last' night ■ and. through-..the. > - early morning troop Wains. , clanked,., into ;■".. Oringi from thenorth ; from, tho southland; •}'.. ;-, from.the west, and disgorged their freight. ■'...' : ; Company after;• company tumbled : out,cramped and sleepy, but, though,they might -.■.".'•,'.■• stretch, their-legs, they might: not .sleep.. This .; .is no: spcKjn-fed-campaignj.^wherft^one-.igpes! ■ ...'.■■•.■',. into oampi : 'and- finds', evjeryfhing,,sice;' and- ... comfortable—tents .'np, "tea all' ready," and J'.:, -slippers'by the fire. ;■ It is, war,-or-at.least as near to/war as, citizen soldiers ,can get. "} '.:'■ ." As hasbepn ! hinted, the troops detrained at " •. ■Ehe.lirtle.wayside,.'station, and ■'blinked 'sleepily' at.the' landscape, which gleamed ghost-like' in ■ the splendid moonlight. - : -The \ .■ camp„was,invisible.;it lay.down on the river- .;. becL".i; 4;-,. ;;'„- ■'; .-._■ ...,.,- i; ,, I{l ":, )■ .Camp Scenes. -'•"''•'- : ..■ •"■:'.■' -. Th© of command broughi -their scat-' • tered senses together, and off they weat'to' . the ■ supply station,.' where- the' transport wagons were standing ready. So many tents, . so many-.bundles of straw, so many^buck'ets, so many'of this, that,.and the other indis'- 1 pensable was given them, and then; .wheeling' • ; out of the station yard and dowi the road . • they-marched off to the 'camp;' Horses were' attended to, tents erected, straw, unpacked' and spread comfortably ; and■ invitingly 'put,' candles lit, a meal, and then glorious bed," .'•;.-. but no sleep. AE through the night they came, and, shortly' after midnight,.', the' " straans of "Caesar's Camp" smote'thov'air' .as some companies of-Defence Cadets came : marching in. Later, the weird skirl of the bagpipes heralded the coming of the High-' .landers, and so on and on, till the dawn paled the moon, and the sun rose. Then'one .saw that the Oringi field column had "mobi- • lised —i.e., assembled at the base of operations,;'awaiting orders—raw material,: a3,it were, for the officers to organise into a bri- . .;■ gade'and manoeuvre to the discomfiture of . the invaders. . ,' ;; . ,'..,, Preparing for the Fray. Naturally, with a force of this' nature, with'' itsrown transport and supply system, lines : of communications, medical and . sanitation ■-.-"• wrps—the whole ■ complete in itself—much' work of aprelimmary nature is necessary before the heterogeneous assembly can be said " ; "-.P 6 or S?wsdd.as a composite field column' At,the tamo of writing, matters were still mostly in prospectu," and tho future was locked up in tho ken of the Brigadier, Lieut - Colonel Beauchop, C.M.G. This morning the .... little amy-.rested. -''Towards'noon',' however a bugle called into action company after com--pany of infantry, and troop after troop of horse, and the . plain above the river was darkened by masses of men drilling , skirmishng, and generally getting "their bayonets sharpened." So far, although thero has been much work of an arduous nature, the element of war—war with a purpose—has not obtruded itself. That is' to come. Long nights of sentry duty, hiVht" alarms, marches to gain flanks, and wnatnot.'the rattlo of.rifles, and the deep bark ' of.the guns—all that is to come. '■■■ • ..:■"" Over 2000 Men Assembled. It. is not yet possible to arrivo at an accurate estimate of, the numbers in camp as the official returns have not been made up.. At a rough guess, however, there must be'over 2000 at least, of all ranks. The full list of officers on the staff of Lieut.'-' • Colonel Bauchop, officer commanding the ingade, has already been published. Lieut - Colonel J. M. Mason, chief sanitary-officer is in camp and Major E. G. Davidson, of the Transvaal permanent forces, is a visitor by' invitation. Colonel It. H. Davics C.B inspector-general of tho forces, with his staff-officer, Lieut. Chesney, is staying at . Dannevirke, and visits the camp daily. The Cadet Lines. Detached from the main oncampment, but Tinder the orders of the brigadier, is a battalion of cadots under Major A; S. M.' Polson, of the Napier High School.- Hiscomi" niand includes'two companies of the Napier High School Cadets (65), under Captain Andrews and Lieut. M'Leron respectively ' and the'Dannevirke Defonce Cadets (43)' under Captain Allardyce, while two companies of the Palmersten High School ■ Cadets were expected to arrive to-day. These will incroaso tho cadet battalion by 67, and will be commanded respectively by Captains l ■■ ■' Foote'and Murray., Tho battalion will cooperate with tho main body in the coming operations, _ and the Wellington Defence Cadets, it is stated here, were going ' into Damp near Mahanga Bay as an auxiliary land force, acting in conjunction with the . coast defonco forces. An Indispensable Branch. As they say. in the army, a field force ♦•moves'upon its stomach." Not tie least ' important part of its organisation,, therefore,, is. tho, commissariats—the. pantry, kitohon, and cookhouse. A peep into .tho supply depot reveals ' companies of-jam tins and popper tin's, and pounds of butter, battalions .of loaves, and an undisciplined rabble of potatoes. By the time the camp is struck on Monday quite a number of rcspectablo bovinos will have been, called up for "supply."

To-day' "reveille" sounded at 6 a.m., '.'retroat".,;at-5.30' p.m.-; "firet post" at 9.30 p.m., .and "lights out., at 10.15 p.m. Tho camp Qantecn is .boing.conducted by Messrs. -Andrews'-and Lavello,' undor tho authority of the: Dofonco. Department. Tho canteen will bo open daily..between' 10 a.m. and 11 p.m..-and-;closed: during Divine- sorvico on Sunday, .;aiid. at: such, other times as tho officor,commanding! tho brigado may order. Civilians; may'not'use, tho cantcon, except when-in-the-company of a membor of the defence forces >in..uniform. Tho liquors are subject to inspection by tho officer commanding tho,. brigado or tho principal medical officer, and jjhc officer commanding tho . bngado']ias"tho"'nglvt'"'i:o closo tho canteen should he doom "it advisahlo so to do. An army pigeon sorvico has been organised, and placed in charge of Mr. Charles Hayncs, a member-of the-WeJjington Homing Pigeon Club, wTi'icn'nassont out its best birds in tho sorvico of 'its •'' threatened country. The weather'is fine, but"Cloudy. 1 : BEHIND.'.TRE BREECH BLOCKS- ".;,. ;.fI;PAY.;A,T r j,HE forts. ,' : GALE- AFFECTS THE OPERATIONS. a gettin''awftjl solemn In each editorial column — S'pose .we did bump into war somehow With a cruiser sent by Prussia, China I ,' '"'Switzerland', or Russia, W'icri'.was/iibSbliit'o 'insistin' on a row? ■Should; we' cautiously' avoid 'em And'be sorry,we annoyed 'emp ■Welli'the'kernel's jest been saying .things to 'me- 1 -""'""'' ",'" •'_'" ."Jones,",' sez'he, "the' solemn fact is. Truth'depends:on. .target practice. is cheap;.but;-powder's dear," sez he. • Von: der Tann (or. some name like that) is an official who lives,. Somewhere round on the other side of ,the world. Ho is one of several million Von,, der Tanns, who now tramp through - our ; - daily dreams of conscription, but-this-particular;..Vou der Tann has an .interest,,all his'.own.,. He is,' one supposes, .the: keeper,.,of ,thp section of the records :aud.,pjans. .of,[the great German General ;■ Staff.; -In this;,-section occur such famous, fortified-.places-as "Warsaw, Wilna, and Wei-hai-wei,', andj .under these names, the pagps of ."military secrets" are as thick as Autumn., leaves, at,.Easter. Indeed, he is always adding to them, paying a thousand marks: to : day for tho plan of somo little lunette or redan, and perhaps 10,000 marks 'to-morrow for tho complete trace and profile of -somo Xtoro'.'.pretentious piece of military engineering?;, In;; his volumes of "W" records, one conceives-that there is also a page or two devoted to a-place whicli he calls"""Vellih'gt6ii)" Tor f unlike Sam Weller,, 'he'', , floes'''hot.' , prpri'6uno6 tho name of the capita'!' of the' "with a wee." How no-gets'his'pariicularj,,about AYollington is by no'means- clear.,. Perhaps the Council of "l)cfance know, hut',' for general information, "it may not bo uninteresting to state that, 'some five years ago',-a pale, short, military gentlemahVpaid'.ai'iiisiOo Auckland and Wel;lihgtoh Jl and'h;a;a'^;i6ol I .round. This gentleman was;-a lieutenant, -pi tho 16th Schleswig regiment,' ■•'■''.-' '. ' A;,St,eei-Rinsecl Bay. : If.,ever„'Ton'der.„Tann, and his friends, ;;should".take, litljnto,,their heads to use' the .'!¥": staff .jrecdrds jis.' a. guide book, and' tour»-New will scarcely be able ...to ■ -complain-: that • sufficient arrange-' 'raentS'.for.u'.th.eir.! reception' have, not been .made. Mahaiig.-üßhyis well ringed with appliances,; calculated:-to' close the throat of the. .harbour',to .."undesirable immigrants" ■.seeking.-.tori,' -straighten out Soamos Island light--.in-"-'time'. of "war. The bay is just a .little'rieSt full of hoops, trunnions, cam-levers, ■■■ elevating bands, breechpieces and breech-fittirrgs, jackets, chambers, and De Bange" obturators which, linked or wolded into one i4B4bh wholo, men call a gun. Thewi^Long^Toms," now waiting to begin: .tho-singingsof. thoir annual Easter ; ,chorus :oTerUhe:;s"rjuat~masses of tho moonlit'harbour,' are-'solitary giiuts, and like a .lnll.':toj'thomselTes,-ifi'possible, to sleep in :', , the,:,day-tim'e,..:-sheeted' and anchored down ;and:guarded in''their"'tnajestic slumber by a -so of "humble little E.N.Z.A. men. "But-at up and doing, and 'when: a, number-ef .-them boom together from thoir_-;eyrids-'one "catches a littlo conception of •■what' Pythagoras, "poet and philosopher, may. u havo>meant"whon ho wrote 'of "the ..'mighty, -mus'io 'of "tho -spheres." . : ; And"rtsg'"inteestrng to note, that the director. of ; artillery/Vitndor whoso care tho long!'gentlemen" have' been placed, has left ivery: little'to-ehahcoV-Lest there should, bo ;any 'tnrstake,-ili'."the"m'anncr of feeding tho big"followgy"whO' , can"each swallow an Easter 'egg-of ohilled..Pallisor-'steel weighing 2101b. 'witlranaddcd.TlOlb:' of brown gunpowder— lest-any'little'dothil of'the programme which ;has;been> arranged'for/the reception, of Von der..Tann's"ships .should ■ go wrong, every little piece of information has-been crammed into a-red'.'book'of "'263 pages, arranged in question and-answer'form. It is wonderful, .even ..amusing, -wha* detail' this book descends'to, 1 " For' ekample:— ; Question'; What "is "the calibre of tho 6in gun?-... - ;,"'.";■'. . ! Answeri.'Six inches." ..; Question: What is the calibre of the Bin. gun?' ' ; - ' ; Answer: Eight'.inches. ' . ..:; Colohial Forts.and Politicians. It is, however,'''worth noticing that this tedious completeness,.'so noticeable 'in AVclliugt6n,".is not' 1 so'pronounced in other ports of ;the "Dominion.., There is, for example, •one port—Diinedin—where the long, inter■fering arm of "the politician has wrecked quite'a'number of expert reputations. The little" Nbrdenfeldtsp't'liat ought to bo down near; the', water-liilej'.'are up on tho cliff, and tho six-inch -pieces, whicli ought to bo perched up high," are- so low that, on stormy days, ..the.;sca-*ater'"plays round the forts, and 'almost" runs in at the. embrasures. Once £3000 was spent in digging a pit for a gun and, after it had been spent, it was found that jihe site, was tactically faulty, and the pit. filled up. again. It was a good deal of ; the consolidated revenue to pay away ■morbly..for'the-sake of exercising the prisoners."-" "At"''Wellington, as has been said, things 'arc bitter.; ".';. ; ~..,,:, ~ !*v/jiite Horses." But': although' everything was thus ready to give the "enemy", a royal welcome, things did not pass off as expected. On Thursday eveniiig'.wh'en theJani'o Seddon put out from the. ,wool,, jetty a,\heayy. wash was running in anion? somo of tho '"mosquite" steamers, though securely tied bow and"stern",'-'were, bobbing up and down like corks.,.,,Wben : ,tbe,.litl4o vessel carrying tho shqrq,,party Bay threaded iier way,., gut clear of tho wharves it was seen at once that."white horses" wero racing on the bajy.and.a very,.fair, galo was blowing. As the, programme,for ,thp ovening was not an ■extensive .-oho, ■. this .-was scarcely noticed at tho • time, - and Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell lost no..time in.-getting to work on tho projected Easter pr.ogra.nimo. His command included. No. 1 Company, Now Zealand Garrison Artillery, No. 3 Electric Light Section, .theso being, reinforced by the party of permanent .men,stationed at the forts. Tho marching-in-stato.-was-returned as 168 of all ranks: '"•; "->- • ■■«■■• Battle. Lajnps'.at Midnight. Reliefs and a look-out party wore soon told off, and,, after inspection and a turn at "manning," thocanrp sottlcd down into night quarters, till, just as tho Easter morn was tipping the hills with edges of silvor, tho boom of an'rildfih 'gMi' woko tho eclioos.' In one, minute, all was hustle. Dark shadowy figures, moving at tho double-quick in fours, shot in'through the'po'stern of Fort Ballanco, 'tho ruddy "glow of the battlo-lantorns camo through" tho little apertures in tho rear face of--the'-work,, and'.prescntly tho great projector of. tho fort..shot, its shaft of light out into, the,bay.,,groped north and then south for, a.minute,or so v and then fastened on tho Janio Soddori, lumbei-ing in tho fairwayfastened on hor and hold her. A ranging shot" or two..,was. tried, and fchon tho guns opened with.''"blank." smothering tho battery front with clquui of smoke. As a more "curtain-raiser" 'to' wliat was expected to follow on Friday,.!this littlo operation was adjudged a succcss'. : ,„" The Cale takes Charge. Friday, it was" thought, would bo a day of real business, and so it woo, but all the

business was carried 'out by tho cloments. Tho bleak, groy morning crcoping in slowly over tho hills bohind Day's Bay disclosed an ugly soa lashed by a piping north-easter, and, at times, tho spray and spindrift whippod along in a way that mado it extremely hard to say whether it would bo possible to seo tho targets at any rango over 2000 yards. Tho morning, suitably filled in with worlc of a routino kind, m)r«. away, and when afternoon came on, tho wind was not only blowing hard, but tho soa was hourly becoming moro and moro unsuitable for target shooting. Hopes of a lull, however, kopt proparatiors going, and, in pursuanco of tho tactical schemo in hand, it was presently announced that Ciipo Farewell had reported tho presence of a group of raiders, consisting of two cruisers and two transports, which wore ontering the Strait at a speed that would bring them into harbour about four p.m. Whether theso cruisers wero tho Hortha, or the Boon, or the Aegir, or Beowulf, or somo such vessel showing a Teutonic name under hor stern-walk did not leak out, for, as far as could bo ascertained by the press representatives, the subtle and important operation, known as "the identification of targets," was not practised. A Story of "Might Have Beons." However, as ovening was gathering in, the Janie Sodden was once moro in position, laying off and on with a "record" target in tow. As she hauled out to something like 5000 yards—a nico battle range, tho very range which Togo took up at Tsu-shima, in fact —tho targets (never' moro than a tiny bjur of white at any time) -vanished out of sight altogether. Now and again, they showed up against the dark background of the Day's Bay bush, only to vanish again in the trough of the waves. Plainly, shooting in those conditions would have been morely an unprofitable expenditure of Government money, and, after ono of tho, six-inch guns had thrown a single shot, operations were suspended. AH tho rest of tho evening a watch was kept for a change in tho weather, but it never came, and Friday's battlo practice became something like tho adventures of poor Maud Muller in tho song "A Story of What Might Have Been." Kreigspiel and Other Matters. Apart from the shooting a quantity of other work of a useful kind was got through. A division of the force into two sections has been made, and a good deal of rather realistic "make-beliovo" is going forward. It is assumed that ono party,, consisting mostly of pormanent men under Lieutenant Mickle, are hostile and have gained a lodgment on slioro. They figure in the scheme as attackers, and are quartered at Scorching Bay. The defenders, mostly No. 1 Company G.A.V., are under tho command of Lieutenant Somerville, and are based at Fort Ballanco. As the two forces are thus closo to each other, the situation is not exactly favourable for preserving tho peace, and a land attack on the rear of tho forts seems to be on tho cards. Major Hume is acting as umpiro with tho attackers, and Captain Simon fills a similar position with the defenders. Midway between the two is tho control station of tho division commander, Lieutenant-Colonel G. F. 0. Campbell, V.D., who is directing -the opera r tions as a wholo. ' . A good deal of interesting work of tho kreigspiel kind is being carried on, and the largo map in tho officers' quarters at Fort Ballanco is thickly studded with little coloured pins dotting the coast! from Pencarrow round to Porirua and beyond. In this part of the operations those who participate have no doubt a chance to show their skill in petty strategy. Rather a fine feature in connection with this year's work is the obligation imposed on each officer of keeping a diary of events. From these -tho official :narrativo of the "campaign" will bo written up by Sorgeant-Major Burbury, of tho Permanent Force. Willi the first favourable change in tho weather shot and shell practice will begin in earnest. Tho l'etono Nav.'.ls have not accompanied tho force into camp.