The Manawatu Standard PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verites WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1883. AN ABSURD REGULATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 3, Issue 69, 14 February 1883, Page 2

Manawatu Standard PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verites WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1883. AN ABSURD REGULATION.

In looking over the new volunteer regulations we observe the following, m clause 182 :-—" Any volunteer proved to have written to a newspaper on matters connected with his corps shall be liable to be fined £3, and summarily diamißßed the force," &c. Ab the Auckland Herald observes :— To put it mildly, this appears to ub to be a mis* take, ss it assumes the regulations, like the laws of the Medea i and Persians, to. be perfection, which decided :y they axe not, as some of the clauses are repug« nant to the Volunteer Act, while the Act provides no regulation shall be so. And other clauses iv the regulations are practically useless. For instance, the target and judging distance practices, which do not demand even a low minimum of qualification ; so that m the former every shot may be expended m the mountain instead of on the target, and m the latter the moßt absurd answers may be given with impunity. The present reforming regulations are the outcome mainly of letters m the Press, written mostly by volunteers. We hold there is no finality m tbe soldier's business mo;e than m any other, consequently fair criticism is an actual necessity, and such penalties as those mentioned m the above quoted, olauseare mistakes, for who knows the defective ropes m a ship so well a? the crew ? Moreover, as it has taken some eighteen or twenty years of free discussion to obtain the present attempt at reform, how many jears will it take for further improvement under such a re« pressive clause as ; that ' above referred to?