VOLUNTEERS' ROUTE MARCHING.

Evening Post, Volume LXIV, Issue 115, 11 November 1902, Page 7

VOLUNTEERS' ROUTE MARCHING.

A KING'S BIRTHDAY COMPETITION. Only six teams out of eleven final entrants turned out yesterday for the Wellington Battalion's route march from Lower Hutt to Trentham, concluding with inspection and target practice. The meagre attendance and poor spirit shown are not encouraging to Colonel Collins and the battalion staff, but they have the consolation of knowing that the majority of the teams that did turn out were of the best, and of seeing good marching and firing records put up by four of them. Beautiful 'weather prevailed, and the march along the leafy road was a treat, although the teams as a rule " swung .it- out," and did not stop to admire beauties of nature or art. Major Smith represented the Commandant of the Forces. The inspection was carried out by Colonel Newall, with district staff. The marching judges, hidden along the route, -were Captain • Johnston (North Staffordshire Regiment), Commander Campbell (Naval Volunteers), Captains Harcourb and Henderson ; starter and timekeeper, Lieutenant Cowles ; timekeepers at Trentham, Captain Morris and Lieutenant Ellis. The promotion and general direction belong to Colonel Collins, who was ably assisted by Major Brandon ; and the arduous and important secretarial duties were ably carried out by Captain Turner and Lieutenant Harton. The order of the day was entrapment to Lower Hutt, from which station the teams, after inspection, marched off at ten-minute intervals for Trentham, the maximum time allowed for covering the eleven miles being two and three-quarter hours. As each team arrived, it went to the range and fired at the target marked out for it, firing being from two different points, and the ranges unknown. It was stipulated that each team should contain sixteen men, with officer and non-coms., making eighteen or nineteen in all. The maximum points in inspection were 20, in marching 80, in firing 190 ; .and the firing points were made up as follows : Word of command during the ( practice 10, how the advance to the second point was carried out 5, men coming to proper position after firing their rounds 5, general smartness of team (particularly during examination of arms and pouches at beginning and conclusion of practice) 10, hits on target (1 each) 160, total points for firing 190. The summary of points scored, and the order of the teams according to score, is as follows : — Guards, Lieutenant Smith, time 2hr 41min 3sec, inspection 18, marching 71, firing 111, total 200; Highlanders, Captain M'lntosh, time 2hr 39min 40sec, inspection 19, marching 72, firing 73, total 164; College Rifles, Lieutenant H. G. Lewis, time 2hr 42min 25sec, inspection 17, marching 71, firing 67, total 155; Zealandias, . Lieutenant Hobbs, time 2hr 45min 28sec, inspection 12, marching 63, firing 78, total (less 6 deducted as overtime penalty for being 28sec late in arriving) 153 ; Post and Telegraph, Lieutenant Norris, time 2hr 33min 50sec, inspection 14, inarching 59, firing 71, total 144 ; Submarine Mineis, Lieutenant Price, time 2hr 41min 20sec, inspection 7, marching 46, firing 23, total 76. Zealandias and Miners were disqualified for the competition through being short of full team strength by a couple of men. Guards Avon from the second and third teams entirely on their firing points, as in, inspection and marching they were in each case one point behind the Highlanders. With the exception of the Guards, Zealandias, though numerically shorfc, beat everything in firing points, but were backward in inspection and marching, and also lost six points through taking it easy and exceeding the time-limit, in the belief that they were safely inside it ; nevertheless, they were in points a close fourth. Po&b and Telegraph did not scoie well in marching, and Miners collapsed all round. The first, second, and third teams win prizes of £10, £7, and £5 respectively.