THE RIFLES SENT TO LONDON.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 111, 12 May 1909, Page 7

THE RIFLES SENT TO LONDON.

STATEMENT BY THE PURCHASER'S AGENT. The Defence Stores Department states that the last sale of arms by the New Zealand Government took place in August, 1907, after being duly advertised throughout the country. The sale was by public tender, and the conditions of purchase were that the arms were only to be sent to the> United Kingdom, that bills of lading were to be submitted to the Defence Department for inspection. Those conditions were duly carried out ; the bills of lading were inspected, and an officer of the Defenoe Department saw the cases of arms placed on the ships. Also the War Office in London was intormed of the fact that the arms were being sent. A Post reporter also ma&e enquiries of the agent for the purchasers of the arms . He stated that they consisted of about 7000 Snider rifles and 4000 Martini-Henry riiles, besides a thousand or so arms of other descriptions. The price paid was about double that paid to the Commonwealth Government for some 15,000 rifles sold by it previously. All the arms sent out of New Zealand — searly all the Sniders and MartmiHenrys — were sent to London ; in fact, the purchasers nad refused_ requests from intending buyers to ship consignments to the Philippines and Antwerp. Some of the Sniders and MartiniHenrys, and most of the other obsolete rifles, were sold in the colony. There was also a considerable quantity of ammunition disposed of. A good deal of it was bought by owners of Snider and Martini-Henry rifles, and the rest was broken up by the Colonial Ammunition Company. From another source The Post reporter gathered that the War Office authorities, when apprised of the shipment of tne arms to London, politely replied that it was not their concern.