VOLUNTEER NOTES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8300, 3 June 1907, Page 7

VOLUNTEER NOTES.

By Foresight. The Rifles will not hold a parado this evening, owing to the absence of Captain Mounsey and the shooting team, who are at Wanganui. _ > Captain Trask, General of the Otago district, has been transferred to Wellington, to act as staff officer to Cclonei itobin. Mr J. Perrin's name was inadvertently left out of the vice-presi-dent's list of tht! Palmerstcn North Rifles A second company of defence cadets has been formed in connection with the Auckland Grammar School, and their services have been acceptfed. The Rifles have decided to hold the opening of the Social Club tomorrow evening. Invitations liat r e bten sent to the officers and noncoms. of the Guards and Mounted Rifles. Tweed uniforms will be worn.

Among the appointments confirmed in this week's Gazette are those of Lieutenant Vaughan, of .No. 8 Company Garrison Artillery, and Lieutenant Cooke, of the College liiiles. The resignation of Mr T. H. Steadman as captain of the Whangarei Rifles is also gazetted, and his name has been placed on the active list (unattached) New Zealand volunteers, with the rank of captain. There is a slump in volunteering in New Zealand just now. The military authorities in Great Britain have, according to an exchange, revolutionised the physical exercise of the soldiers. The use of dumb-bells lias been discarded as an "antiquated and stupid perversion of the ways of Nature." This particular reform appears to have been brought about by the death of a fusilier, who had developed a heart twicj> its normal size by what* the Coroner described as "the pernicious habit in the British Army of puffing out the chest." This medical view has been adopted, it is said', by the Army Council, and as a consequence the programme of gymnastics has been entirely revised on the lines of the system prevailing in Sweden. It is contended by some medical authorities that puffing out the chest, by throwing the strain on the heart, weakens "a man. The holding of the breath consequent on gymnastic exercises is alleged to be a fruitful j source of danger, and the principle , is laid down that no exercise should J be indulged in that prevents free' breathing. After all these iconoclastic findings, one is not surprised to be further told that the soldier of the old school, who walked with his chest out, is in danger of passing. It is said that in the Swedish system there is no place for the knotted muscles, which bind the chest and interfere with the action of the heart. The exercises—about 150 — are extremely simple, and the end aimed at is to make a man lithe and active, and to develop his lung power. On the subject of troop riding, Lieutenant Paget Tomlinson, of the Seventh Hussars, has something to say in the form of a little homily ■that may well be learnt by heart. "A rider should vary the pace at which he is moving, i.e. ? he should walk, trot, and canter m turn; it eases the horse. At a slow trot the horseman should support the whole of the weight of his body upon the irside of his thighs, the_ soles of his feet resting in the stirrups. He should never allow the body during the trot to touch the actual seat of the saddle; leaning forward in this manner he will relieve the horse's back of the weight of his body, except so far as it is evenly distributed over the side-bars of the saddle resting on the ribs." A sub-target has been shown to the Government by Mr Blair White (says the Wellington Post), and it is now being inspected and considered by the Council of Defence with a view to purchasing it for instructional purposes. The sub-target machine is of us© as a means of giving recruits preliminary practice that will be useful to them, and give them confidence, when they first go to shoot on an open rifle range. It may bo shortly described as a contrivance in which a heavy upright pillar supports a receptacle for a delicate rod which has an all-round radius. The receptacle may be lowered or raised to make it suitable for standing, kneeling, or prone shooting. At the forward extremity of the rod a needle point is fixed, and a target about the size of a visiting card is placed in a little grooved frame. This is the sub-target. The objective targetis an ordinary one, usually placed at 200 yards range, which is ringed to proper dimensions to appear the size of a standard target at any desired distance—say 200 or 500 yards. An ordinary rifle is used for taking aim, and it is connected with the machine in so ingenious a way that there is no point of rest. There is a bar fixed to the apparatus some height above the spot at which the rifle is attached, and a moveable weight on the bar equalises the weight of the attachments which hold the rifle in position. Thus the marksman is given complete freedom of movement to allow of his aiming in any direction. The rifle connections are mounted on ball bearings, and are connected with the steel rod which is swung on a four-point universal joint on the "head" of the machine (that part into which the rod fixes). This rod moves correspondingly with the line of sight along the rifle barrel, and makes evident all gyrations (through an ingenious ball differential movement) to the needle. On the tiny subtarget every movement of the rifle is indicated by the delicate pointer, until at the pulling of the rifle trigger the card darts forward and takes the impress of the needle, exactly corresponding to the aim taken by the marksman on the objective target. The little sub-target is electrically vorked. There is a dry battery in the upright pillar, and the head contains a powerful magnet, the armature of which impels the target on to the needle when the circuit is ehsed. The closing is effected by the act of pulling the trigger. "Bullseye" in the Christelmrch paper says:—Up to the present no move has been made in the selection of the team for Australia. I hear that somo people are urging a disti ict representation, and that competitions be held in each district. I think this would be a huge mistake. r :he colony's marksmen muster at Trentham each year, and it is on the shooting at tlio last c tlonial meeting tliere that the team should be sclented. As I intimated a short time back, I think the best way to select the team would be to take the name" of twenty-five who scored best at tho rarges required in Australia at the k-.st Trentham meeting, and ask them to muster at Trentham, where n rvatch at each of the ranges selected cculd be fired, the highest aggregates beincr tho chosen representatives. It would certainly be no "hardship to ask men to journey to Trentham to fire for a place in a representative term. The shooting need onlv last one day. Whatever method the Council may adopt in their selection,

Insincerely hope that Trentham shooting only will be taken into account. The National Rifle Association is advised that the English team will arrive in Australia in time to participate in the Sydney meeting in October. The Military Board, sitting at Melbourne last week, fixed the destinations of the Australian officers who are to go abroad for instruction in various parts of the Empire. Captain Robertson, of the Victorian In stiuctional Staff, will exchange with an officer in India; Captain Christian, It. A. A., with an officer m England; and Lieutenant Griffith, R.A.A., with one in Canada. Those who will be sent away for special instruction ar3 Major Coxen, R.A.A., Chief Instructor of School of Gunnery, Sydney, who will go to the Ordnance Co'lege, London;, Captain Heritage, of the Instructional Staff, Tasmania, to England; and Captain JFoott, of the Engineers, Brisbane, to the Military Engineering School, Chatham. It v.ould be as well if New Zealand wore to follow Australia's example for an interchange of officers with tie United Kingdom and the various other colonies.

The New Zealand Defence Fin-u«j Association has just issued a sm*ill booklet showing the results of the meeting held at Trentham in Maivh last. The little book contains more information than is given in the result list of any other Rifle Association in the world. The British and Colonial Associations each issue a list a few months after their annual ireetings, in which the prize winners in all the matches are shown, but Colonel Collins, in the New Zealaud Association's list, goes further than this, and .'ias had a table compiled showing the scores in all matches of every man who fired 'at the meeting. The winners of trophies at the meeting are also shovn, as well as a list of former rifle champions. The value of the publication Avould be materially strengthened if lists of the winrers of all trophies since their institution, together with those whij'i ha'-e been won outright, could be added. I congratulate the Association 011 such a valuable book of reference, which ploc-es New Zealand 111 the van so far as convenience of leference for shooting men is concern ed. I understand a copy will be sent to every competitor at the last meeting.