THE MILITARY TOURNAMENT

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 114, 10 November 1900, Page 2

THE MILITARY TOURNAMENT

"Tommy Atkins," bo he amateur or professional, never fails to draw a crowd M'hen he appears in public, and some 4000 or 5000 people went to see him in tourney at the Petoue Recreation Ground yesterday. The affair was exceedingly interesting from first to last, and was on the whole very well managed. If there was any fault it was that the public were offered too much for their money. Thirty-one events looked a big order lo fulfil when the day was early ; in the end they proved four too many, even though as many as four . events were sometimes "in action " ftt the same time. Most- of the prizes in the infantry events fell to local volunteer corps, but in the mounted tourneys visitors captured several prizes — and deserved them, too. The tournament was brought to a close shortly before six o'clock, and the troops returned to town some time before 7 p.m. Following are the results of events contested after we went to press yesterday :—: — A squad from the Wellington College Cadets was the only entry for the .carbine physical drill competiton, and an excellent exhibition was given. The Maxim gun competition was pne of the " show " events of the day, and might have been even more interesting had the gun used worked better. But it continually jambed, having, it appears, an objection to being fired with blank cartridge. As this was merely " playing at war," and ball cartridge was not permissible under the circumstances, the officials decided to Jet her jamb, and made the best of things. Six teams turned .out — two from the Pernxanent Artillery, the others from local volunteer corps — to compete for the prizes of £5 and £2. The conditions were — Pack all ammunition boxes and equipment on ]the carriage, and fill the water jacket; form order of march, advance 60 yards and come into action : front, firing three rounds deliberate fire and 20 rounds rapid fire (which could not be- done) ; change lock, retire 50 yards, and come into action rear and fire another series ; .change lock, cease fire, remove equipment and form up. The sights in .each case had to be set on some defined object, and after firing the men had to " stand fast " for inspection by the judges, Lieut. -Colonel Messenger, Commander Campbell, and Master-Gun-ner Richardson. A squad of the Post *nd Telegraph Rifles, under Lieut. Harton, was first out, and was followed in turn by the Permanent Artillery No. 1 squad, under Bombardier Valentine, Wellington College Rifles under Lieut, Lewis, Wellington Navals under Lieut. I Biss, Kelburne Rifles under Lieut. Charton, and the Permanent Artillery No. 2 [ squad under Bombardier Thompson. ; The event took a long time to decide, and eventually the judges announced their award as under:. — permanent Artillery No. 1, 49 points 1 Wellington Navals, '42 points ... 2 Permanent Artillery No. 2, 40£ points 3 The points scored by the others were not available. The Wellington College Cadets had a walk-over in the Physical Drill competition for corps armed with carbine, though prizes of £6 and £3 were offered. The Cadets also had the manual and firing exercise all to themselves. Both were gone through smartly and effectively. What was in military parlance termed a Repository Display proved an event of interest, as exhibiting how expertly a dismounted gun can be righjbed. A gun i which did service for the occasion as a howitzer stood mounted on a travelling carriage, with various dismounting stores alongside. The operation consisted of dismounting the gun,, putting together an iron gyn (a sort of derrick), to which was attached block and tackle, etc., remounting the gun on the carriage, taking the gyn to .pieces again and putting the material back into its assigned place. Three teams, consisting of an instructor and 13 men, entered, and the judges (Lieut. -Colonel Messenger t and Commander Campbell) awarded the prizes of £6 and £3 as under: — Permanent Artillery (tinder Bombardier Murray), 50 points ... 1 Wellington Navals No. 1 (under Lieut. Handyside), 40 points „. 2 Wellington Navals No. 2 (under C.P.O. Rabe), 22 points '. 3 The time occupied by the winning team was smin 47sec, while the second team took 7min 42sec and the other 9min 2sec. i An ambulance competition was also keenly' watched by the general public, and it is appropriate to say here that the dummy service of the competition was the only work required of the corps all day. The competition was for squads of four men. Certain "patients" ran a distance ancl dropped, having conveniently pinned to their breasts information as to the nature of their injuries. The ambulance squads doubled out to the battlefield, attended to the injuries, and brought the patients within defined limits, where Surgeon-Majors Cahill and Collins and Surgeon-Captain Martin decided how the ambulance work hod been performed. There were four squads competing, ojpd the verdict was as follows : — Wellington Bearer Corps No. I(prize of £1) 1 Wellington Bearer Corps No. 2 (prize of 10s) 2 Seven teams came out for the Bayonet Exercise competition — prizes £6 and £3 ' — always a showy event, and some exceedingly smart work was done by several of the squads. The judging was done by Major Owen and Sergt. -Majors Sanderson and Carpenter. The result was as under: — Wellington City Rifles No. 1 (under Col.-Sergt. Davis) 1 Wellington City Rifles No. 2 (under Sergt. Halpin) ' ... 2 Napier Guards (under Sergt. Smith) and Zealandia Rifles (under Sergt. Bunckenburg), equal 3 The number of points gained was not disclosed. The Wellington College Rifles, the Taranaki Guards, and the 1 Taranaki Rifles- -were the other competitors. , r Three-mile Bicycle Handicap. Prizes trophies value £2 10s and £1. Judges, Captains Duthie and King. — Private Richardson (Cycle Corps), 340 yds, 1; Private C M'Donald (Highland Rifles),

260 yds, 2. Won by 50yds. The time was given as 9min 23 3-ssec. A^lemon-eutting competition, open to all mounted corps, prizes £1 and 10s, was carried oft' by Gunner Janson, of D Battery, who cut his " lemons," otherwise potatoes, cleanly and neatly.' Trumpeter Griffiths, of the same Battery, won second prize. There were three other competitors. A tent-pitching competition introduced an element of humour into the proceedings, owing to the difficulty one hard-working squad of shore Jack Tars had in getting their tent "bagged" at the start. They had rolled it hastily, and it proved a misfit, and their efforts to piggle it into its bag provoked a lot of chaff from military onlookers. The tents, which were standing, had to be "struck," packed, carried 60 yards, and pitched -again. Napier Guards, under Col.-Sergt. Blom, got first honours and £1, and Wellington Navals, under P.O. Bowater, second prize of 10s. The latter were much speedier than the Guards, but there were some technical defects in the eyes of the judges (Major Brandon and Captains Harcourt and Turner). The physical drill competition, open to all corps armed with rifles — prizes £6 and £3 judges Major Owen and Sergt.-Majors Sanderson and Carpenter — was carried off by the smart; squad of City Rifles under Col.-S'epgt. Davis ; College Rifles, under Sergt. Kellow, coming second, Zealandias, under Sergt. Bunck^berg, third, Napier Guards fourth, Taranaki Guards fifth, and Taranaki Kifles sixth. A laughable Sack Race of 60yds ? prizes 10s and ss, was won by Corpl. Webster, of the Taranaki Guards, Gunner Finlay, Petone Navals, being second. A Novel Race for the mounted corps, prizes £3 and £1 lQs, consisted of the corapetitbrs having to walk and lead their horses one-third of the allotted distance, mount and trot another third, and Jjhen gallop home, leaping three hurdles' on the way. The result was : — Trooper Henderson, Ruahine Mounted Rifles, 1 ; Trooper J. Devonshire, same corps, 2 ; Trooper Douslin (Heretaungas), 3. There were eight competitors. In the Night Alarm ftfur men, with a non-commissioned officer in charge, peeled off their tunics and hats, grounded or piled their rifles, and went to bed two paces away. At a signal they had to dress, load and fire a volley, run 50 yards and fire a second volley, and a third volley 50 yards farther on. A number of teams entered, and the result was : — Post and Telegraph Rifles, 1 ; Zealandia Rifles No. 1 team, 2; College Rifles and Zealandia Rifles No. 2 team, equal, 3. Two Signalling competitions were got off, one by Morse code and, one by semaphore, and occupied some time. The results will be made known later on. The Tug-of-Wa!r and Ranfurly Race were postponed, owing to ihe lateness of the hour, and the • Turk's Head and Sword Exercise competition for mounted men Avere abandoned. The tug-of-war is to take place ,>t the Drillshed to-night. The second prize in the jumping by sections for mounted men was won by Trooper Poll's section of Heretaunca Mounted Eifle« ' 6