NORTH ISLAND RAILWAYS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXXXI, Issue 7046, 6 October 1900, Page 3

NORTH ISLAND RAILWAYS.

_» « (PBB PBBSS ASSOCIATION.) Auokland, Ootober 5. At a conference of the Main Trunk Railway League and the North Auckland Railway League, held to-night, it was decided to amalgamate the two leagues for the purpose of obtai»ing the completion of the Main Trunk Railway .between Wellington and the north. It Was resolved that the leagues publish a strong protest against the unfair allocation of the Publio Works Funds so far «s the North Island Main Trunk Line from Wellington to tbe far north is concerned.

At Mr E. M. Smith's suggestion, a trial is to be made by the Bailway Department of the Taranaki petroleum for gas making purposes. The Municipal Corporations Bill was last night amended in the direotion of providing that Mayors in office on the passing of the Aot shall remain until their successors are appointed under the Aot. There was some speculation as to whether such provision would be maSe, as it would have been absurd to hold an election m November under the old Act, and one in April under the new.

existing conditions of war -all become more or less subservient to marksmanship at the supreme moment of actual conflict with the enemy." Leaving the great Napoleon out of the question, it is universally acknowledged that Lord Roberts is one of the greatest experts in the art of modem warfare, and seeing that he places marksmanship before all other qualities ifc is hard to understand why Colonel Polo Penton should consider training in camp the most necessary instruction for our volunteers. If all our volunteers were efficient marksmen his statement would very probably bo correct, but I make so bold as to say that of the 11,000 (in round numbers) volunteers at present in the colony not more than twenty per cent, or 2200, can be classed as efficient marksmen, and as long as the present futile methods of musketry instruction are adhered to we shall obtain results as unsatisfactory. On this basis, if we have, as is proposed by our Defence .Minister, a force of 18,000, at a cost of .£BO,OOO (apart from the Imperial Reserve, which is estimated to cost an extra £100,000 per annum), we shall be spending a sum of .£64,500 a year on 14,500 men who would be practically useless in modern warfare. I only hope, sir, that my statement may reach the oars of bur defence authorities, and that if I am guilty of an exaggeration a record of the shooting of the whole volunteer force be published, bo that the public may be able to form some idea of their efficiency. For my own part, I truly believe that I am consideraly over-estimating the number of efficient riflemen. It is highly probable that my idea of an efficient marksman differs entirely from that of our Defence autkorities, and, to make myself dearly understood, I will state that I do not class a man as efficient unless be can, with the best'modern weapon, under favourable circumstances, make certain of hitting a man (as long as he remains perfectly still) two Bhots out of five at 500 yards. My standard is not by any means a high one, and is one that ehould be and could be attained by about 70 per cent of ordinary men if 1 they received encouragement and proper instruction for a period of three years in the art of shooting. As I before stated, our commandant recognises that it would be an advantage if our volunteers were better shots, but to anyone who has had experience in rifle shooting the methods be proposes to adopt are so futile as to be ludicrous in the extreme. Under the existing regulations every volunteer must fire 150 rounds per annum, a certain number of these rounds in class firing (target practice), and the balance in volley firing. With a view of materially improving the shooting powers of those men it is proposed to give them an extra 50 rounds per annum (an average of a shot a week for the year) to be fired at moving and disappearing targets, if possible at an unknown range. Seeing that the ordinary volunteer is very doubtful if be can hit a good fat target which remains perfectly stationary at a known distance of 500 yards, one can imagine his feelings and the amount of benefit or practical experience he will derive in firing 50 rounds per annum at a nasty bobbing thing at a range of which he has no knowledge. One might with equal judgment set a child to dance on a tight-rope before he knew how to walk. If we are going to spend J680.000 per annum on our defence forces, surely it would be of more advantage to spend that amount in drilling and instructing in the art and strategy of modern warfare 3500 efficient shots than in nursing 18,000 men, when 14,500 of that number would be of but very little use in time of war. As a writer of a letter to one of the Wellington papers remarked a short time ago, " They would be no more use than so many sheep; in fact, if ill came to a siege, I would much prefer the sheep." If we enrolled 5000 volunteers, and made them fire 700 rounds per annum (in addition to the present number of 200), under conditions something similar to what they would meet with in actual service, and appointed skilled and careful instructors, to see that the ammunition was expended to the best advantage, and at the end of every three years discharged, all those who conld not; pass an efficient standard of marksmanship, we would in a few years have a defence force which (if numerically less) would be immeasurably superior in many other ways to any in the world. The money required for training these 5000 men would be but half of that proposed to be spent in training 18,000, we would have as many efficient men, and these men would be really efficient, and soldiers of such, quality that Ihey could hold their own* against an infinitely greater number of the ordinary rank and file of any of the great European Powers. The Boer war has proved that we possess in this colony a class of men who would make really fine soldiers ; let us train them to the best advantage, and adopt every method that will render them highly efficient in the field, instead of muddling along as we have been for so many years, sticking to obsolete methods simply and solely because they are used by the British Army authorities. With regard to the proposals re formation of rifle clubs — if it is the genuine desire of the Defence Minister that they should be encouraged, why impose such stringent restrictions ? Unless a man live at least five miles from a centre having a volunteer corps, or unless he has served three years in the volunteers, and i 8 over 30 years of age, he is debarred from all the supposed privileges. Assuming that he possesses the necessary qualifications, he finds that no club can be formed unless there are more than 20 and not over 60 members, that he must pay for his own rifle, and attend a prescribed number of drills and parades a year, for which he receives no remuneration, his only perquisite being a free grant of 100 rounds per annum if he is efficient, and a pass on the railways to attend rifle matches. It is offering very scant encouragement to the people generally to learn to shoot when you tell them they must buy their own rifles, attend drills and parades, and if they want to fire more than 100 rounds a year they must pay for it at the rate, say, of 10s per hundred. The cost of training 5000 volunteers and giving them an extra 700 rounds per annum would be approximately as follows :— SOOO men at £i 10s per head, £22,500; 700 rounds per man at 10s per hundred, £17,500; total, £40,000. Assuming we are going to expend, as our Defence Minister proposes, £80,000 per annum (apart from the £100,000 on the Imperial reserve), we would then still have £40,000 in hand. We could purchase 30,000 rifles at £4 apiece. The money could be raised without doubt at 3 per cent, total interest £3,600 a year. Allow sinking fund at 5 per cent (£600), which would liquidate the whole debt in about twelve years, and our total annual payment would only amount to £9,600 per annum, leaving a balance of over £80,000 still to be expended. We could thus issue 30,000 rifles to rifle clubs free of charge, and give them an annual grant of 200 rounds per man, and still be spending only the same amount per annum as at present proposed. If some such method as this were adopted, and the restrictions with regard to age and residence and the number of men 1 allowed to form a rifle club were removed, we might entertain some hope that rifle shooting would i become a popular sport. We are a young country, and are credited with a fair share of energy and common sense, and it is to be hoped that the matter of efficiency of our volunteer forces, and the necessity of learning how best to defend ourselves, will become a matter of more public interest , in the future than it has been in the past. If once the interest of the general public can be aroused in this , matter, we need have no fear of the ' ultimate results, and I trust, sir, that many a more able pen than mine will keep the matter before the eyes of the ; people until they see to it that they derive the best possible return for the money expended on the defence forces of the colony. — I am, etc., A. O. Atkinson. Hawera, October 5, 1900.