TRENTHAM CUT TO PIECES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 763, 11 March 1910, Page 5

TRENTHAM CUT TO PIECES.

;.i - j AND STUCK TOGETHER AGAIN. Chacun a son gout—everyone to his ' taste—say. the rise French, and the wise French know what living one's life i is. And so we find it everywhere— Mecca for Moslems, Chicago tor pork men, and-Trentham for,. what, shall we say? :Well, we may say. this: That there, is no, place in Nqw Zealand where so many men with the same' hobby • from all parts of- the. Dominion meet together. In the rifle-shot's year the Trentham'week is marked with a white stone. Whatever his private' reason may be for .attending; whether ..he comes to "potto learn shooting from its most capable exponents; or.because he.is gregarious— many of ■' the ■ results arc. good if expensive.. Apart from its significance as a defensive draining measure the 1 chief interest attaching to the meeting lies in the fact that many: men gather together in. emulation, and "rubbing intellects" is one of the finest human pleasures. And these assembled 'rivals live at Trentham under conditions that are more natural than usual. , There is the . open air, the necessity for abstemiousness, the regulation-of habit, the exercise of patience, skill, -. and' the'.mental', and physical qualities. The element of fairness —the "sporting" instinct, is' developed, success or failure may teach humility; it, is.possible for. one man to materially assist another,. and; a spirit 'of cavaraderie—sometimes embittered by small jealousies—may he developed with general advantage. . . .- • Then there is the point as to its utility. Trentham meeting .is not for the poor shot—it j:s for the crack shot. Tho crack shot, shoots well even though he does not. come to Trentham. The meeting is unquestionably a. military one, 1 and it is stated that, it is held to en- I courage "defence"' rille shooting. The point., is that ,£1550 is spent- in prize money, that the expenses and administration . are great, and that the meeting has nothing whatever . to do with I? a £ s skiU witu tie rifle universal'in tho Dominion. All shots, whetheryoung or old, shoot under the same cohaTtions, and it is "only the men who have been the best shots in their companies or clubs who may use a' share of ' the '300,000 rounds of ammunition fired at the meeting. The Trentham -meeting does not encourage young shots, and m one sense, is really 0. very finely-run military gathering for the enjoyment of those men of tho forces who have' been good shots for a long period. The weakness of the "service conditions series is that little practice can be got. in them anywhere else ' but at Trentham and the Trenthnm series itself is too brief to be of much value. Also, when nfle-fire 'is really needed for the defence of the country, the country will not merely call on the 700 Trentham competitors—it will call on every soldier it can get. Therefore, shooting'for the few is nationally unsound, and the great expenditure of ammunition .by' men who are already good shots is not strengthening to defence. "They that arc whole need not a physician." .■..-.'■ But when this has.been mentioned, the very worst -that can', be said, of lrenthain has been recorded. The case 111 favour of such a gathering of riflemen is almost overwhelming. It stimulates interest in rifle': shootin» far and near ,for it is not too much to say that tho published reports of the shooting are everywhere closely followed, alike by the' Jtaipara lumber men and the , Stewart island oysterer, and' when some town wakes up on the last morning of the meeting and finds that it has produced a champion-ah, welll-there is enthusiasm and justifiable pride, and, maybe, a reception, when the champion brings home the belt. Such' things stimulate activity. And, if he young, immature shot has no chance at Trentham as Ion" as he is immature, he knows what will take.him.there if he is ever to go-strenu-ous practice on his comnanv's or club's range. That also is -good. " And lastly, ~,T onl »Y'. hav p. th S Present" 700 "best marksmen m the Dominion, it is certainly better to have them than not,-at Trentham as an expression of.truth'is like all truth-a many-sided thing, and for sure, "Ha! ha! 1 have it." GORDON HIGHLANDER MATCH. SOME OBSERVATIONS.' The "shoot" for tho Gordon Highlander . I trophy was a creditable event, especially as there was heavy rain, and many soldiers—both .Australian and Now Zealand teams—were hampered by overcoats. The Gordon Highlander officers who drew up the regulations held that snap-shoot-ing at 1200 yards was, possible-out the : real fact is: if a stray bullet gets on to ' a target that is,"iip" for a few seconds it is by the merest chance, and a firstclass shot might easily, be a couple of dozen feet cut. Under service conditions I men might be further hampered with 150 - "rounds" pouches, belts, water-bottles, i haversacks, leggings or puttees, and rolled i overcoats—and no fire 'commander would t order any shooting to,be done except for 1 "moral effect." In . the case .of tho tar- s gets yesterday, the moral effect did not '< matter. The men doubled badly, and not 1 quickly enough. .Their retirement was < nonchalant, and was done, 'in an erect J position—the distances.between men was not- great enough, and-ah .'enemy from the target nnd would .'hare had a'fair eliancpui' off' decimating ■ both. foa.™*. Jt w/>ans a

in camp the whole time. As it is, Col. Purdy, Chief Medical Officer, has been able to pay only short, flying visits. Members of the statistical' staff—who work from ' daylight to midnight, and : after—do not. really go into camp for the money they earn.' A■' computation was , made yesterday, and it was'found that the average pay works out at 51d. an hour. There is real evidence, .however, that the clerical staff would cany on for the-love of. the thing even 'though no pay were■ forthcoming. ■••"•■". The wet weather of yesterdav, while it did not damp the ardour of. rifle shots, wetted their rifles. Host of the competitors,in ■ coming off the mounds, spent much time, in cleaning their'arms. An old competitor said that it.would take him ;Tialf a day? .'target'his trusty musket'right again, and added that some unfortunates who had intended to make a pot of money" would achieve nothing better than empty pockets and dirtv guns. , A competitor from the.Waikato,"on being asked if "service conditions'', matches were undertaken in his district, replied that they had been instituted, but had been abandoned. He pointed' out that good shooting was. not general—that few corps contained ' many crack-.shots, and that it was useless for young shots to bo asked to fire at moving, figures or those which were.not painted.-black or whita He thought,that the, inclusion, of such targets at Trentham was merely a "sop" to the great military, advocates'of service shooting, and was of opinion that whether the "shot" was a champion or a tvro ho would take little interest in any" other, than straight-out black, and white target shooting at known ranges. Minor growls ,at various prohibitions on the ground have been 1 heard.' For'instance, the proprietress of the onlv private refreshment booth is not allowed to sell meals during the progress of "association" meals.' .There is also,a prohibition aga;hst the sale of tobacco and cigarettes except at the non-alcoholic canteen. A hairdresser who.is ontsido.tbo. range has beyn prohibited from : selling "smokes." On the whole, however, the rifle shots at Trentham are not heavy smokers, and the trouble-is not :very deep-seated. : Last year all tho water'for the camp supply passed.through a-300-gallon. tank, and there was a serious, epidemic of dysentery. as a consequence; When the tank was cleaned out it was'found to contain a deposit of two feet of fetid mud. Since the reservoir has been put m, the water supply has been good, and sickness, induced by bad water has-been rare. wagons obtruded themselves in the camp yesterday morning, 'and there was a, general movement towards home, which cleared the camp of over 200 mon.The cause was not tho bad wea'ther, bnt the finishing of the championship and the appearance of the names of the first fifty. r The shooting for -the rank and file is over,, and tho crack shots will finish the gathering. "Rule 15 says: "Any volunteer having to address.a range officer,or one of the staf must salute; a member of a.rifle club must stand to attention." This rule is never observed at Trentham,' where military etiquette is greatly lacking. .