NEW PLYMOUTH DISCOVERY

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 141, 16 June 1936, Page 11

NEW PLYMOUTH DISCOVERY

The days when the armed defence of lives and homes was a desperate necessity were recalled by the discovery at Moturoa at the weekend of an Old rifle range, long since forgotten, where the early settlers of New Plymouth were taught to shoot (states a correspondent). Relief workers excavating in the Ngaftiotu Domain have unearthed scores of old bullets which had remained embedded in the clay of the hillside for over half a century. At first it was thought the domain was possibly the site of a battle with the Maoris, but then the memory of the foreman in charge of the work, Mr. J. B. Simpson, was stirred. He recalled that over 50 years ago the hillside at the domain was the scene of an ancient rifle butt, where the young men of New Plymouth were taught the use of the rifle to defend their families and their homes against the menace of hostile Maoris. He himself had fired many rounds into the hillside from ranges up to 800' yards. Mr. Simpson recalled that a big red (lag was always flown from the top of the hill when shooting was in progress. Three iron targets were used and painted after each bullet had made its mark. The markers sheltered in trenches in front of each target. When each shot was fired the marker would climb on to the embankment and signal the result. On one occasion, Mr. Simpson said, a rifleman fired a shot after the marker had climbed on to the bank, the bullet ploughing up the ground between the marker's legs. For his carelessness the rifleman was drummed out of the Taranaki Rifles Company.