DEFENCE NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 615, 18 September 1909, Page 12

DEFENCE NOTES.

■■•■-. '- ■ ' (By. Echelon.) ; ' Pahiatua has for some time past been in ai unsatisfactory position with regard to its vol* unteer corps—tho Pahiatna' Mounted Rifles, and the infantry corps—but it has recently shown a desire for an improvement in that respect, and to that end tho Mayor of the bor.pugh, at'tho request of several prominent residents, convened a public* meeting in the • Municipal Hall for the purpose of discussing the whole question of volunteering in the Pahiatua district,;. Staff Sergeant-Major'Burr abo attended. In roviowing tho situation, the Mayor characterised tho position into which the two existing corps had drifted. as deplorable.. Why they had drifted into that position , ho could no,t say. It had been remarked that thoro was somo dissatisfaction as to the treat* mont they had received from the.Government, . That was best known to tho members, but so far as the citizens wore concerned they had done all they could. Tho citizens had found parade grounds and had also helped very ma. . , tonally to get a drill hall for them. They ? had also had the free use of his land both a? a parade ground and a rifle, range-. The Bum of JJIOO was still owing on the drill hall to the Bank of Now Zealand, and tho amount was guaranteed by a gontlomon, of whonj he was one, and who wore prepared to allow ' the guarantee to remain .so long us they eatf that some uso was being made of tho hall by the volunteers. But, ho asked them, why : should these guarantors saddle tbomselvos Titli. such a burden fqr a number of men who did not take the trouble to attend the number of parades -necessary for them to. earn capita- . i tion? At the present, time increased interest was being. taken in- volunteering .throughout Now Zealand. All tho argument was in favour of the .existence of the corps, and thero was ; uono on the other sido. When they,considered that tho burden of their dofenco was practically borne by England, they, as British subjects,' ought to-be prepared to take their share and defend the property and the lives of the people in this Dominion; Ho Could not understand why the stalwart young men of Pahiatua did not come forward and join a corps for tho protection of their mothers and thoir. , homes, even if they had no landed' property. '■ It was almost deplorable to see the number of young men lurking about'the streets. They ■ thought too much altogether of football, and possibly if the Government could be induced to . ■ .'• establish a sort of a military'football matcU.in :" connection with tho v'olunteors recruits would be plentiful. The people were "football mad" , . ' in this country. .;At: his invitation SergeattMajor Burr was present to give them any information they might reqniro. It would be left entirely to tliomselves, to say whether tho' prosent corps should b> disbanded and another, or ■ other corps formed, or whether the present corps should be reorganised.. II there was any. little personal feeling no far as the officers were concerned ho asked them to smother it .and to , consider what was their, duty to the, Crown and the flag they lived under. He understood that , it would, be almost impossible to forma.neflr corps until the : existing corps had been, axa- . A long discussion followed, and it was finally, resolved that the present mounted rifle corps should disband. Steps'are to bo takon.to organise a thoroughly efficient , corps, and to that■ end' recruiting, will bo■ proceeded ; .with • untiltho end of : November..; i ';i-r : , >, ■'^ Mr. .Hiram Maxim, who has just returned to New York, alter exhibiting his silent gun at Enfield,, Paris, and Tcgol, near IJerliu, is quoted on the authority of the "Herald for tho statement that he has BUccessfnlly attached a muffler device to--, a. German machino gun, which' discharged 650 shots ,&.. minnto.-.' The discharges iff.efair.emokelossi.-andl.inplsolfess. So , . • impressed,.>abqq{djng;,tOj,(Mr.<ijJlAximriiare th».'Gorman auth'oritiesi that they, havo' decided, to equip all Government airships with the now ■/ gun.; . ~. ~:S\ ; : .:.-;;• .. ; •__ [' '^ ' Thefiret of a succession" of countryineetings,' organised to ■■ roußO the country to tho dahgor of , losing its snpply. of horses, was held recently at Colchester (Englandj. The meeting almost 'amounts to ~a. public confession of danger. 'The TcfritoHal Army is;handicapped at every turn by want of horses, and the deficiency is bringing,with it a corresponding loss of horsemanship. Tho danger of the position is fully rocoirnisod both by tho War Office ' and the Board of Agriculture. The extinction of the omnibus horse, that rock of support in the South African War, is in sight; and never again, till motors leap hedijes, will "Eng-j , lish battles' bo won , bctwoca; Ha'mpstead, and, Haminersmith."—"The Daily"Mail." '.■''-.. •-.'. V ' Lord Kitchoner, in Australia, will be faced) by a- new problem' (suggests the '.Calcutta "Englishman ). Australian ideas of. soldiering are vory different from; those obtaining : in Europe., Lord Kitchener may be given a free hand as regards the nrrangoment of adniinis- , : trativo details, but with regard to sucli ques- . tion as disciiiline and,-the tactical training of troops tho Australians havo come to have opinions quito contrary, to those-that Lord ' Kitchener is believed to ontortain. A-..ragged man with a bandolier and a rifle and no uniform "is repugnant'to tho average British officer, and very repugnant to LoTd Kitchener, whose well-regulated inind "abhors want of uniformity. On tho othor hand, Australians cannot bo brought to SSO tlio value of theso do- . '• tails, and tho-.contingents, they furnished to South Africa wero remarkable; for the absence of;distinction between': tho officers'and' men. It would bo obviously impossible to form an Australian Army .upon the lines of an Indian .or Egyptian Army, ovon if every man were a 'conscript. - It' is. only a form, of volunteering, and if a volunteer is worth ten "pressed" men it is only while he', is, not treated as a' "pressed" man. The organisation of thoAustralian defencos,'. therefore, may prove to bo one:of the hardest tasks yet set before Lord , - "'. Kitchener. But ho has not yot shrunk from hard tasks. , '~-.- ~ ■.'/ i. ..-. . ■ Mr. Joseph Lyons, whoso.suggestions to Mr.' ;Haldaue and the Army-Council brought about, the brilliantly successful' London Territorial ". sports recently held in the Stadinm, contributes an articlo to the August number of the "National Deferice'T magazine, advooating' a soheme to further:, populariso the Torritor,itil ' ; , Army and ■to improve the physique of its' young'men. He proposes to «tend over the , whole country the principle, of inducing young British athletes to i join the force , bv offering* them) in addition to_ the. existing advantages, the privileges of gaining prestigo and prizes in ' the field of eport. In short, ho would make athletic honours woni in. tho Territorial competitions the champion honours of. the coun- ' try, a.passport to tho championships of the world.': "Every country," ho proceeds, "should: . havis, its annual sports day; there should db' a great' national competition in which tho : . prize winners of each country would vie with each other for ohallenge trophies in a'grand, assembly of athletes from all the battalions of the Territorial Army . .'..:.;., wh«t* the , picked men of every country would contend! for highest honours. Siioh a scheme woulil make the Territorial Army the headquarters of amateur athleticism in this country, and, whatever other' associations might _ oner, no athlete would bo considered worth Ids salt un-' less he entered 1 the highest lists of honours to which would bo admitted only those serving their King and country as .citizen soldiers;" Mr. Lyons thinks that such a sclieme should bo.put into practical effect at onco. He has already many promises of prizw,' and indicates how, a plcntitudo of prizes would quickly be available. '.■■• ~ r-..- -~' . .