THE DEFENCE FORCES

Evening Star, Issue 22882, 14 February 1938, Page 16

THE DEFENCE FORCES

NEWS FROM THE SERVICES MOUNTED RIFLES COMPOSITE UNIT’S CAMP. The Otago portion of the 3rd Composite Mounted .Rifles Regiment will be concentrated at Dunedin on March 30. The members will bivouac the night, and the following day will travel to the camp site at Motukarara, near Christchurch. They ' will return on April jll. WEEK-END TRAINING. The Owaka troop held a dismounted week-end parade at Pounawea recently, when musketry and troop drill were carried out. Similar parades will be held by the Lawrence'troop on February 19-20, and the Omakau troop on February 26-27. OTAGO REGIMENTAL DEPOT OFFICERS’ CONFERENCE. A conference of officers on the Otago Regimental Depot has been called for to-morrow evening at 7.30, at the Drill Hall, OTAGO MEDICAL COMPANY IN CAMP THIS WEEK. The Otago University Medical Company will commence its annual camp at Sutton on Wednesday, returning to Dunedin on February 25. Lieutenantcolonel R. A. H. Fulton. N.Z.M.C., will'be in command, and his adjutant will be' Lieutenant E. ,C... Davis, N.Z.SiC. . Training in all forms of medical field work will be carried out as well as general sanitation and hygenic instruction, the unit being formed into four classes for the camp. In addition the company will be accompanied by a dental section, under the command of Major B. Dodds, N.Z.D.C. The Chief of the General Staff (Majoy-general J. E. Duigan, C. 8., D. 5.0.) will carry out an inspection of the unit in camp on February 22. THE CADETS X SECONDARY SCHOOL BARRACKS. Last week the Otago Boys’ High School unit carried out a four days’ barracks, when instruction was given in infantry training, rifle training, signalling, and first aid work. A similar course will be commenced at the John M'Glashan College on Wednesday, when j training w.ill be along the same lines, ’ ✓ ANNOYING THE PUBLIC TARGET PRACTICE AT AUCKLAND. Complaints that the target practices held at North Head cause distress to children, and te people in poor health or in a nervous condition, have been received by the Devonport Borough Council.. Mr A. .E. Wilson, the town clerk, wrote to the Defence Depart-ment-im December, suggesting on behalf of the council that heavy gun practices should be carried out farther from the centre of the population (states the ‘ Auckland Herald ’). The Defence Department replied that it was considered impracticable from, a national security point of view to discontinue firing from North Head, and that, furthermore, as these guns formed part of the defensive scheme for the protection of the suburbs of Auckland, it was essential that they should be used in their war-time positions. Regarding a suggestion in Mr WilsrfU’s letter that a small gun should be fired as a warning before and aft,er practices, the Defence Department replied that this had been considered, but it was thought that such a measure would tend only to increase the total amount of sound, and that a warning of this sort would naturally not be heard by all the people who would hear the subsequent heavy discharges. Mr Wilson then wrote suggesting that a siren should be installed to give a warning before and after target practice. The council is awaiting a reply to this suggestion. Mr H. J. Hutchins, a member of the Borough Council, who formerly lived in Macky Avenue, North Head, for 12 years, but removed two years ago to Takapuna, said that during his residence in Macky Avenue he had to leave his house when gun practices were in progress. The practices, he says, have decreased the value of property in the North Head district. PUBLIC LIBRARY «■ . HEW LAY-OUT OF INTERIOR RECORD ISSUE OF BOOKS The issue of books at the Dunedin Public Library on Friday night constituted a record. After being closed for two weeks, the doors of the library were reopened that day, and, together with returning borrowers, there was a steady influx of the public anxious to see the changed interior of the building. It was necessary from the minute the library opened for the staff to spend much time explaining the new lay-out of the room and directing borrowers to the altered positions of their favourite shelves. The general consensus of opinion seems, to be that the present plan is a considerable improvement, and one to which borrowers will easily adapt themselves. On the whole, the staff had an exhausing day. Work was trebled, and it was essential to call the cataloguing and order department staffs to assist in the lending room. The rate at which books were taken out from the library was so fast that it was almost impossible to replace them quickly enough from the reserve stock built up during the time of closing. By the end of Friday the shelves presented a thoroughly depleted appearance. Before the library is entirely back to normal running conditions the remaining stock of approximately 4,000 volumes accumulated during the last two weeks, must E° back into circulation. This involves an un- ' usual amount of clerical work and shelving over and above the usual library routine.