OUR VOLUNTEERS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXV, Issue 7821, 30 March 1886, Page 6

OUR VOLUNTEERS.

ADMIRAL SCOTT AT LYTTELTON. Admiral Scott, -who is at present in Christchurch on a visit from Dunedin, for the purpose of inspecting the marine portion of our Volunteer forces, went into Lyttelton yesterday afternoon in order to see what the Lyttelton Navals were capable of doing. At the Station the Admiral was met by Captain M'Lellan, their commanding officer, and taken off to the torpedo boat, which was waiting with steam up moored to one of the buoys near the Gladstone pier. In order to show off her paces, a trip was made round past Ripa Island, that the progress of the defence works there might be noted, and then the boat went on towards little Port Cooper, the Navals working the spar with which the little vessel is fitted for the discharge of her offensive weapon. Turning homewards again, Baker's Bay and the highly-convenient slip where the torpedoboat is housed were shown to the Admiral, and a few circles were afterwards cut inside the breakwater to show her capabilities in the matter of manoeuvring. _ The boat went anything but well; in fact, her performance was enough to make any marine engineer weep tears of gall. Herengineß were so rusty that 12 or 12 J knots was about all that could be got out of her, and nothing worked smoothly at that. The priming was constant, and when the water was blown off it was the colour ofbrickdust. After about half-an-hour's steaming all the supply of fresh water had been used up, and the tank had to be filled with sea water, ladled in by the bucketful, the boat going slow all the time. It must not be understood that the Navals are to blame. The boat is only brought out once in three_jmonths., or thereabouts, and consequently, a valuable piece of in gpar when waste* —Tfaß~e"ngine6were in no order whatever; the Engineer retained by Government for the torpedo Bervice being, as we understood, in constant employment on the tug, it is out of the question that he can attend to them.

A& to the slip and Bhed where the boat is usually laid up to rust, it is a mile from town in the first place. But besides this, and the trifling drawback of being in quite an exposed and out-of-the-way position, it is totally unsuited in other respects. The slip is in such a bad place, and so sharply sloped, that when there is any Bea at all on it is impossible to launch the vessel without almost the certainty of a smash; a very high tide is almost a sine qua non if she is to be comfortably taken on or off, and considerable haulage power is necessary to do either. The Admiral's inspection was to have been made on Saturday, but there was a slight swell, and the boat could not therefore leave the slip.

In the evening Admiral Scott saw the Navals put through gun drill, and aa. inspection parade was held under hia eye.

The third and final competition for the silver cup presented by hia Worship the Major, to be fired for by the members of the Woolston Rifles, took place last Thursday morning, at the Hillsborough range. The morning was very unfavourable for shooting, as there was a cold sou'-weater blowing, accompanied with a mist, which made the light very bad. It was a difficult matter to 6ee the target at the 500yds range. Sergeant Dixon was again the highest scorer, with 29 points, this being his third consecutive win in tbe competitions. His total aggregate is 107 points, and he therefore takes the cup. The win is a very popular and also well deserved one, as Sergeant Dixon is an energetioand painstaking member, and the steady practice which he has followed during the competitions is all the more to his credit. This company has petitioned the Defence Minister to be made a capitation corps, and it is to be hoped that the request of tbe petitioners may be granted. At the time of the impending disturbance between England and Russia, the company offered their services to the Government, and the expense attending the formation of a new corps is beyond the means of the members to liquidate. CHRIST'S COLLEGE RIFLES. The last but one of the series of ." spoon " matches, initiated with a view of improving the shooting of the Company, came off on Monday last, March 22. Owing to a cold sou'-wester, accompanied with showers of rain, prevailing, the attendance was limited. The following are the scores:— Score. H'cp. Tl. Private Stanford 50 IS 65 Lieutenant Mellish 55 16 5*5 Private Wright S 8 18 56 Lance-Corporal Curry 48 71 53* Sergeant Smith 48 lb 49J Private i.evcrsedge 40 9 49 Private Fletcher 41 8 44 Private I awrie 26 18 44 Sergeant Lijchttoot 42—42 Private Welch 19 21 40 Private Hoßkyns 34 9 33 Private Hose 28 6 32 Prmße'Crum.p ... 19 « 16 RIFLE MATCH. CHEISTCHTJECH Kir i.ES T. B BA.TTEET aETILI-EEY. The match between the Christchurch Rifles and the E Battery of Artillery was fired off on the Opawa Club range on Saturday afternoon, and resulted in a win for the Battery by 37 points. The weather during tbe afternoon was dull and cold, with a strong gubty wind blowing across the range, and, in consequence, the scoring, with three exceptions, was very poor. The match was arranged for ten men a side, but as the Rifles only brought six men on the range, the number of men was reduced to seven a side, the Rifles being allowed an average for one man short. The ranges were 200, 400, and 500 yards; seven shots at each. Scores: — t E BATTERY AJBTir.LEBY. 800 400 500 yds. yds. yds. TL Qr.-Master Sgt. M'Dougall... 28 24 2S 75 Captain Martin Gunner Scull 23 27 21 71 Gunner Tait ... 25 19 19 63 Sergeant Jackson 20 17 20 57 Bombadier Kerr 20 15 18 53 Sergeant Costley 17 20 18 50 Grand Total ... 441 CHKI-tTCKUBCH RIFLES. Private Thompson 20 23 22 65 Lieutenant Adams 16 23 21 60 Private Kinvig 23 20 15 58 Sergeant H»wley 20 16 21 57 Private Sandford 22 15 17 54 Sergeant Wark 18 13 21 52 Average one man short ... 5S Grand Total m 404 CARBINE MATCH. The return carbine match between the N Battery of Artillery and the Canterbury Engineers was fired at the Heathcote 'range on Saturday last, the conditions of the match were seven shots each at 200yds, 400yds, and 500} ds, sighting shot at each range. The Battery were again successful, winning by 25 points. The wind and light were not at all suitable to good shooting, which the score given before, with but few exceptions, show. Scores:— H. BATTEEY. 200 400 SCO yda. yds. yds. Tl. Sergeant Kirby 22 26 17 65 Hon Member Hill 22 21 22 64 Sgt.-Major Manning 23 25 16 64 Corporal Arnold 24 18 20 63 Sergeant GUmore 29 15 13 57 Gunner Bradley ... • ... 21 15 16 52 Corporal Eobinson IS 21 11 50 Gunner. White 19 15 7 41 Gunner Lewin ... 13 13 10 30 Grand Total 548 EHGIXEKBS. Sergeant Schmidt f 27 21 75 Sergeant DeaMn 19 28 20 67 Lance-Corporal Percy ... }° 5£ ii „ Qr.-Maflter Sgt. Anderson ... 19 23 16 58 Sapper Partridge 18 19 " 51 Corporal Lawrence is g» « ™ Sergeant-MajorScott 16 21 / « Sergeant Morton If fj If 43 Corporal Kay 24 12 6 42 Sapper Davy 1» s a Grand Total 52s SCOTTISH RIFLES. Advices are to hand to the effect that the full dress uniforms for this corps, ordered

from Messrs Hobson and Sons, of London, have been shipped by the s.s. Coptic, which, is due here on April 11. This will just be in time to enable the Company to appear at the Easter encampment in the full uniform of the 42nd Highlanders, which, as it is the first time" such a dress has been seen in Christchurch, will be sure to cause a good deal of interest among Scotchmen generally. As will be seen by an advertisement elsewhere, the annual general meeting of this corps has been postponed to Friday evening, April 2.