TEŔITORIALS.

Evening Star, Issue 14687, 3 October 1911, Page 2

TEŔITORIALS.

[By Skiejushee.] items of interest concerning Corps (Town and' Country), Shooting, and Territorial notes generally icill be accepted. Copy, addressed to "Skirmisher," should be in hand not later than 3/ondag morning. The promotion of Major Johnston M'Ara to lieutenant-colonel is gazette*! as from 18th. -Tiuio. Hcaity congratulations are extended to Colonel M'Axa on his. promotion. Lieutenants Moller and Melville are al«o to be congratulated on their promotion to captain's rank, and Second Lieutenant J, F. Ewen to lieutenant's. Among the other promotions gazetted fs that of Hon. Captain Jas, O'SulliVati, director of equipment and stores, who lias been granted the honorary rank, of- major. Captain E. P. Lacey, who has for some time held the position of district signalling officer, has been appointed to the position of captain in the New Zealand Signal corps, while Mr G. H. Ferguson, for some years sergeant-major iu the Dunedin Engineers, has been appointed second lieutenant in. the same. Captain Lacey will therefore in future command the Brigade Communication Company, with Lieutenant Ferguson as second in command. No recommendation has yet been made for the second officer, but this will be sent in shortly. , The local otEfce advise that they hope tocommence- the posting to the Territoriali in the Otago district within the next"week or so. ;■".:,. . Captain H. R. Potter, who has been attached to the Canterbury district as assistant adjutant-general,' has been ordered to proceed to India, where he will be attached to the regular, army for training. Captain Potter was •last week tendered a farewell social by the officers of the Canterbury district. Owing to the difficulty experienced by the audit inspectors in getting in the bal-ance-sheets of the various companies, and j the method in which the majority of these j accounts have been kept, it has been de- j cided to discontinue the audit for the pre- j sent. Later a circular will be issued con- | tabling details as to audit requirements, to i enable the accounts to bo audited in April | •next. j The presentation of the N.C.O.s' football , banners (senior and junior), won by teams j from the Port Chalmers Navals, is to be mad© to the winning,teams at Port- Chal- ! mers on Friday evening next. Officers and N.C.O.s in the Dunedin district are invited to be present at the function. The Non-commissioned Officers' Clab has recently had a very welcome addition made to its librzary by Major G. R. Ritchie, in the shape of 'several military books. These include * Lard Roberts: Forty-one- Years in India,' 'The Science of War, 'The Decliiw and Fall of Napoleon/ and others equally interesting. With a view io the formation of :i second Defence Rifle Club in Dunedin. a j meeting of all thee© interested in shooting j will be held this evening in the orderly room of the Dunedin Highland Rifles. There is no doubt plenty of scope for two and even more rifle clubs among tbs sheeting men in Dunedin, and with the season jnst opening a very strong club should be j formed. I By the kind permission of the Dunedin j Fire Board officers commanding companies ; _are allowed to have the use of then* drill room in Cumberland street on the following conditions:—That the company be marched into and out of the hall, and, that the call office be notified of the honr of its arriv.il. when the officer in charge of the station will have the hull open. Advice has been received from headquarters that for this year it will not be i necessary for Territorial officers to attend the obligatory* course of instruction prior to examination for promotion that its laid down in the regulations for the military iorces. The B Battery are at present in the ■unique position of having members or exmembers assisting in the training of artillery companies all over the Dominion— j Captain. A. F. Roberts is assisting the j Napier Battery, Lieutenant Ewen the j Wellington Battery, ex.-.Lieutenant Herd-.... man. is captain of the Hamilton Battery, end ex-Sergeant Reid has joined the In*ercargili Battery. Colonel MAra has :e«ued the following | crder in connection with class firing to be i carried out by the 4th Regiment, Otago I Uifles:— : To qualify for year ending 31ft May, j 1912, the trained, "soldiers of the battalkm j will fire tiie course for Home .Territorials, ! Table 8., Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4; Musketry j Regulations, Part 1, 1909. In field prae- I tices (Part 4) 20 rounds per man will be j issued, provided that not less than 2C I mem carry out the practices. Where no j suitable ground is available simple prac- \ tices can be carried out <W the !; local;iange. : ; r Examples of schemes for ' field practices aire cited in ' Target Practice for N.Z. Defence Forces, 1910-11'.' Recruits will not be required this year to do any range practice: their training will be elementary musketry instructions, including practice on miniature ranges where such exist. As there would be considerable difficulty in getting the Canterbury Field Artillery Brigade together for practice, owing to the difficulties of travelling, it has been decided that the E Battery (Christchurth) will join the Otago Field Artillery Brigade for their annual training. Where this will bo carried out has not yet been decided, bat it is understood that it will be somewhere in the Otago district. Quarter-master Sergeant' James Fairley, of the R.N.Z. Artillery, has been awarded the long-service and good-conduct medal. Q.M. Sergeant Fairley was for some years a member of the Port Navals, and was subsequently in charge of the Deborah Bay station. Authority has been given for the formation of a defence group rifle association in the Otago district, and the following will form the executive council:—President, Colonel V. S. Smyth, Officer Commanding District; members Colonel Nicholls (Mounted Brigade), Colonel E. R. Smith (Rifle Brigade), Captain Lacey (Dunedin), Captain Porter (Invercargill), Major Forrester (Oatnaru), Lieutenant-colonel J. Bovne (Gore), Captain Proudfoot (Rilie Clubs). Apropos of the formation of new rifle chibs in and around Dunedin, it is hoped that the need for an up-to-date range will not be lost sight of. The Pelichet Bay range, as all shooting men know, is not conducive to the improvement of young shots at stationary targets, and is practically useless for service shooting or firing at unknown ranges. Mention has previously been made of Wingatui as a suitable place for a shooting i - ange, and there is no doubt if the matter were properly taken up something could be done to secure a site there or elsewhere. In addition to the Pelichet Bay range being unserviceable, the facilities for storing targets, etc., are inadequate, and the "'small boy" nuiaance is increasing each season. Surely Dunedin can do something to improve things in this direction. Among other improvements required is a caretaker, who can be relied on to attend the telephone, in addition to seeing that the targets and other property are not destroyed, as at present. Under the new Defence regulations no provision has been made for personal payments to the Territorials on account of efficiency. Badges, however, will be issued for a proportion of those who qualify.