WITH THE RIFLE NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIP

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 49, 27 February 1913, Page 7

WITH THE RIFLE NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIP

TRENTHAM IN 1613 SMALL ENTRY OF TERRITORIALS INTERESTING COMMENT BY, COLONEL COLLINS. Shortly after 9 o'clock this morning; [ the crackle of the rifle shot announced, the commencement of the annual meet, ing at Trentham promoted by the Do. minion Rifle Association. The weather was gloriously fine and there was just a faint breeze blowing at right angles to the range from the north. At Trentham it would be called a perfect day. The entries this year are a little better than last (363 against 296), but as Colonel Collins said, in addressing the men. this is by no means satisfactory and it is still legs encouraging. Perhaps the most outstanding and regrettable feature of the meeting is tho astonishingly poor entry of Territorials., From the whole of New Zealand only 74 competitors nra listed as Territorials, and it is only too 'apparent that many— if not most— of them are on the reserve. "In, ft country like this," said an au> thonty to a Post representative this mor ¥ I & <<m a CoUn **y with a compulsory 11 defence scheme, it is an extra, ordinary thing. Can the Territorials shoot ? Are they being trained to become efficient marksmen?" Perhaps headquarters can answer. Of course, it is well known that from the point of view of tho defence authorities the chief ele« ment of merit in the meeting is the fact that the programme includes "Ber* vice matches"— that is to say, shootinc under service conditions, and at disappearing objects. But these same service matches— three of which are beinir fired to-day— elicited practically ftb're. sponse from the Territorials. „™ prizes, too, for these matches are li . *. Thfe ni Bheßt8 heßt «eorer gets £5, and then follow forty«six other prices ftairregating £45, a total of £fio f<» . &Lh match. Twenty men must win at least 10fi each, and there are twenty-one prizes of JGI each. Surely come greater enthusiasm could have been looked for ? The target in match No. 2 represents ( & head and (moulders figure in the act of firing, with a bull's-eye (Bin in diamettnu invisible to the firer. About five seconds is allowed' for exposure, and there. J8 an interval of thirty seconds between each shot. One would imagine thtit «uch competitions would be the life and eoul of efficiency in shooting. • , To-day the Loophole Cover Match, Rapid-shooting Match, and Snapshoot* ing Match were commenced, but at the time of writing it does not appear likely that any detailed results will be availAble for publication. Among the competitors are many familiar faces, and, though the entry is small, there is every prospect of a successful meeting, COLONEL COLLIN&'S SPEECH DECLINE OF RIFLE-SHOOTING. Colonel Collins, chief executive officer, addressing the men, said : "We open this meeting today 'under very good auspices, so far as the weather is concerned; but our entry is not what I expected. I am somewha-t "disappointed in that. In 1911, two years ago, there was unmistakable evidence that the popu- | larity of shooting was growing. Afcthab meeting we had close on 600 men, bo that I ,wob justified in anticipating that it would not be very long before we should reach the thousand mark. But instead of doing that there has been «- 'decline. The change of our volunteer system came and we had a sefe'back, so that the entries went down to 296 la«t> year. At that I did not lose hope ,eveni now 1 am not downhearted 1 , but 1 ! thought that this year we would have more than the actual number entered." The total of entries was 355, and of that number 74 were Territorials ; but of the Territorials, as t might be judged from tho old-time uniforms, many were Old volunteers who were in the reserve. Rifle club men numbered 279, and thero were 69 tyros present at the opening. i "I am very glad to see these men,''' ! said the Colonel, "but in pa*t years wo had two or 'three hundred. It is Very satisfactory, however, to know that> we have 69 new men at tli Ijheeting. Tlisy will have every opportunity and every encouragement, as in each match there are* thirty priaas for tyros, co that they; w/11 have a little picnic of their own. LACK OF ENCOURAGEMENT, "There are many reasons for the decline of our entries, but the principal one ib the want of encouragement in rifle shooting, (Hear, hear,) Who j* responsible for that it ie not for me to f»»y, but no matter whai our defence scheme may be— and itis one of which 1 entirely; approve, and is. the one for this Do* minion-^-tifle shooting muet be encouraged. A man may be very well drilled' and very well disciplined, but he is very little- use unless he can hit his man. ll 11I 1 think it wns Lord Robert* who «aid thati vifie shooting was 80 per cent, of the soldier's training." It was the dßty of regimental commanders and company; commanders to do their beet to taoiMM ago rifle shooting within their own commands. There should be no difficulty in, that. The General Officer Commanding was in favour of rifle shooting 5 but it should not be loft entirely to him to ,hay« it encouraged. Officers' of regiments and companies should give encouragement by arranging inter-company competitions and rifle meetings. If that were done they might, look forward to meetings such as they had of old. SERVICE MATCHES. "This meeting is a great disappoint* ment to me," the Colonel continued, "because there are bo very few Territorials presont. Rifle club men have responded to the call very well, and tain't am' glad to see that most of them have entered for tho Service matches." Largenumbers of men who w.ere not compelled to enter for there matches had done co. The Service matches wero looked upon as the military part of the meeting, and it waa up to riflemen to support the defence authorities in this matter. If the meeting devolved into a. pure bull's-eye competition, the defence authorities could have no justification for supporting it. I RIFLE VETERANS. He was very glad to sec that one very old competitor had entered {or the tervlce matches—that was Rifleman Fiaser, of Kaitangata, who was sixty -one years t os age. They had among them also an old veteran who had followed out rifleshooting for very many yoai's.— tDaptftiiii Dormer, an officer over sevehty years o£ age. The officers were not so numerous this year ns previously, ni Bomp of them could not got away, but they were all energetic and would manage to cope with the work. One officer they would xwhh very much this meeting; Colonel Beckltvgham. who had been removed from their midst by death. In addition to those previously men* tioned, there was ono man who had fol»«

]pw«d the tLfte meetings round and at' . tended each gathering for many, yeare-^ •"Rifleman Harding, of Blenheim. JBP^TODATE MARKING. In,, connectioni with the service matches Aie was' glad to'say he had been, ablo to ,'^arrange 43Md/ they should have their re- , sufts by telephone. It would be good news to them that they would know what f bits they had made right from the very They would not leave the firing 'Xjxttnt until ©■tfery shot had- been signalled fSW the result telephoned down. This '' arrangement had .been made in order to |.give them every satisfaction^ and carry " out the. sendee matches in strict military ■• fashion. . The Colonel detailed the conditions under which the service matches ! ■■tyould he fired, and asked the men to .' be particalar in observing these. v There were one or two other matter*. ;6i which he asked their observance. they had to parade he hoped- they "would be punctual. There were fines ii which could be imposed, hut he did not j-Want thai; he wanted them to be smart *as a- matter of duty. He asked them '^also to be careful of the cleanliness .and health < of the camp. Territorials '•wonld be in. uniform, and § he wanted • toem tq be neat — not wearing a straw s Eat. with a uniform, but properly dressed. The General Officer' Commanding would , nofT be out, but his representative would • ' and he hoped Territorials of old time ' woukl get a good name for their appearance in .uniform. . i In conclusion, he wished them all every ( aaccess, and hoped they would assist the range officers so that everything could be ■ got off in good time. (Applause.) j t VISITORS TO THE CAMP f His Excellency the Governor has pro- > ' riiised to visit the meeting if ho is in ' , residence at Wellington. Colonel Heard,' .3J.G1.5., Director of Staff Duties and Military Training and a vice-pi'efiittant of the -association, will probably pay a . $siVto-the meeting in the course of the next few days, i LATEST DETAILS „_i iOOPHOLE COVER MATCH, distance : 500 yd s; target, first-class figure 5 seven • shots ', position, prone. , ; In this match the target was first ex- " posed for 30sec. and the position of the fjjhofc "spotted." For the remaining six , shots the target was exposed for 6seo 1 <Mily. At the time of writing less than • JJalf the*" 1 competitors had fired, but a •'few excellent scores were recorded. Rifleman W. Cox (Auckland City R.C.) was ; highest, with a total of 32, made with Iffve balls, a 4, and. a 3. Next came Detective-Sergeant Cassells (Karori R.C.), £with a score of 31. Ho started with 4, i then placed ' four bulls to his credit in •succession, and finished with a 4 and a 3. /the boards showed that President W. N. jMasefiekL (Sounds R.C.) was next, with ' 3jQ^ _and' Captain Drummond (Westport) and Captain Mace (11th Regiment) equal, with 29 each. The champion, L. LoVeday "•(WoodvSle) has yet to fire, but it is ■unlikely that the two first mentioned • scores wfll be bettered. Shooting^ is also proceeding in No. 4 'Match, B series, rapid shooting. The /conditions are: 500 yds, first-class figttre "target 5 a^ven rounds ; 30 seconds for 'first shot, which is spotted and signalled, and 45 seconds for remaining six shots, 'in which time competitor must spot his -sighter and get off his six shots. The irapidity of the firing appears to puzzle ■i numbers of competitors, but some very (/good targets have been shown. Rflmn. 1 Yeo/ of Auckland City Club, has put on '•'TA. jost one off the possible, and so far this is the best, target. Later. At 2.30 p.m. Rflmn, Yeo (Auckland City Rifle Clab) was sdll leading in the . rapid shooting match with a score of 34, i-the next best being Lieut. Green (West•|part) 30, Pres. Moselem (Kaeo R.C.) 30, I— Williams (Ohnra RC.) 29. Rflmn. J. jDrennan (Wangantii R.C.) 29, Sergt.oMagor Montgomery (Dunedin) 29, Cdl.,'Sergt. Swanson (Opaki) 29. 1 In the Loophole Match Rflmn. D. - Roots- (Patea Rifle Club) has now disj. placed Rflmn. Cox (Auckland City R.C.) tior premier place with a, score of 33. £Cox is second with 32 and DetectiveJrSergt, CasseMs (Karori R.C.) third with dl. Masefield (Sounds), Sandford ( (Christchurch), JThomas (Petone), Wilson - (Whangamomona), and Swanson (Opaki) '1 are all on the 30 mark. Roots should ' win. The Rapid-firing Match was won by_ < •Rifleman Yeo. ' I Colonel Purdy, Chief Medical Officer, , arrived at mid-day to inspect the camp. Everything was reported to be in order, and the sanitary arrangements excellent.