The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER' 7, 1910. HAMPERING THE GUNNERS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 993, 7 December 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER' 7, 1910. HAMPERING THE GUNNERS.

Unless the Officer Commanding the Canterbury military district has some other and very good reason as yrt unknown to tho public for his action in forbidding the coast artillery practice of the Lyttelton Navals during their annual training course —on account, it is stated, of the presence in the harbour of H M ships-he will'find it hard to justify the imposition of what is'a most serious inconvenience, not to say a very great hardship, upon the local gunners. Prom the evidence before us he alone appears to have been responsible for the present situation. His Excellency the Admiral profosses ignorance of the matter, and we can hardly believe that the Officer Commanding the district acted on the advice of the Chief Instructor of Artillery (Captain G. S. Richardson), when he issued his prohibition. That officer, under' the regulations; governing "Practice Seacards," is directly responsible for training and instruction at annual company training-camps, and solely responsible "for making all arrangements as to training, practice, appointing umpires, etc." He is the ono officer present whose opinion concerning "safety conditions" should ibo accepted as the dictum of an export, and, so far as we can gathor,..his opinion on this occasion went to show that there was available in the harbour a convenient safety arc for shell practice. A further reference to "Practice Seawards" shows that tho most elaborate precautionary measures are laid down for tho safety of shipping and tho public in general. The statement that the presence of the warships in tho harbour was the reason for present contretemps at Lyttelton is disposed of in the clause in tho regulations dealing with "safety precautions for practice," which states that "at all stations where any of H.M. ships of war are in port, duo notice of proposed dates and times of practice is "to be sent to tho naval authorities for their information." This is merely a notification, not an application Tho incident under notice raises * the question of protecting the ordnance branches of the service from unnecessary and unjustifiable interference, private or official. It is. of the first importance that the efficiency of our garrison and field artillery should be maintained at the highest possible standard, and this can only be dono by affording this very important branch of the service every opportunity'of perfecting itself in gunnery under such a system as will enable it to become conversant, as far as may be' compatible with public safety, with the conditions of war. This is the third occasion within.a comparatively short period that the gunners have been subjected to what has seemed to us to have been quite unnecessary and unwarrantable interference. The first occasion was when some official, about two years ago, stopped the night-firing battle practice of the Wellington Navals in the face of strong protest by responsible officers. On the second occasion tho Prime Minister stopped the Sunday shooting of the D Battery at its last encampment, and enforced a similar prohibition upon the other corps. If our defence forces are to be built up to that stage of efficiency that will make them of any value to the country in time of need, should that time ever arise, these irritating interferences should cease.