OMOTO CAMP.

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 May 1917, Page 2

OMOTO CAMP.

AN INTERESTING LECTURE

Very little work was clone in camp yesterday, owing- to inspection parade in the morning by Colonel Chaffey and the march to (treymouth in the afternoon to attend the send-off to the 29 th Reinforcements. The evening lecture was on “The Mechanism and Use of Uie Rifle,’' and was given by Lieutenant McKenzie. The little Scot lias a happy knack of imparting dry information in an interesting manner. With a rifle held up in his hand, he began with the remark: “A boy's best friend is his mother; a soldier’s best friend is his rifle.” Opening up tlie breech, he explained the use of all the intricate mechanism of the lock, hammer, and magazine; tlie use of sights; the need for elevation of tlie muzzle for long distances. He explained the trajectory of bullets and the effect of air resistance and gravitation. He emphasised the importance of keeping the rifle clean and showed the spiral grooves in the bore, which cause the bullet to spin and bore its way through the air to its destination. He conveyed a lot of useful information regarding the effect tilting the weapon has on the course of the bullet. A couple of his statements seemed to some of the new recruits to be incredulous:, viz., that a bullet suspended from the muzzle end of a rifle by a. thread would reach the ground no sooner than the projectile shot from the same rifle held horizontally and possibly reaching the ground more than a thousand yards: distant, the force of gravitation being tlie same on the bullet flying through space as on the bullet quietly falling to the ground; again, when a rifle is pointed upwards vertically and discharged, the bullet is impelled upwards by the explosive for, say, nearly two miles, until the air resistance and the force of gravitation cause its flight to stop; then it begins to descend and by the time it reaches the ground it has almost reached again its maximum initial velocity. It is as well able to kill by its fall as by its discharge. These statements', perfectIv accurate ns they are, made some of the lads think that Lieutenant Mac was “drawing the long bow,” and gave to him the opportunity at the close of his lecture to reply to several Questions put to him on the subject. The Salvation Army Hand paid a visit to camp at 7.30 p.m. and gave an excellent concert, which was much enjoyed. The programme consisted of marches and selections by the Hand, a story by Captain Highs, songs by Bandmaster Coadwall and recitations by Bandsman Mason. Lieutenant Fletcher, by special request, favored the company with the songs, “Trentham” and “Keep the Home Fires' Burning,” and Corporal Roberts, who has a magnificent bass voice, sang with much acceptance, Queen of tlie Earth.” The concert was arranged by Chaplain-Captain Carter and Chaplain-Major York presided. “God Save the King” brought an enjoyable evening to Its close.''