ESTABLISHED 1875 The Manawatu Daily Times. The Oldest Manawatu Journal PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JANUARY 24 1903, OUR RIFLEMEN.

Manawatu Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 7631, 24 January 1903, Page 2

ESTABLISHED 1875

The Manawatu Daily Times. The Oldest Manawatu Journal PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JANUARY 24 1903, OUR RIFLEMEN.

Thb policy of the Government ever since Ml* SetJ&on was badly bitten with the Jingo fever has been to encourage volunteering, and to dis.courage Rifle Associations. Not that the volunteers have very much to thank the Government for. They have received in fact, more lip encouragemjenfc that capitation, and everybody knows hoy/ handsomely the cadet movement has beeu fySr tered! However, it suits Mr Seddon to profess a greater regard for volunteers than for plain ordinary riflemen just at th.c present time-—

certainly they have more votes—and ho is playing that card for all he is worth. A deputation of riflemen has just waited on the Premier in Wellington to complain that certain events have been so cut down in the programme for the forthcoming Rifle Association's meeting that out of £992 to be shot for £779 has been reserved for volunteers. It was pointed out also that though the Petone Club won the Teams' Match at the meeting last year, and thus had a legitimate leg-in for the trophy, the match had now been made a match for volunteers alone. After drawing a large herring across the scent in the shape of a democratic lecture on the etiquette which is required when mere civilians approach a double-quick-firing Commandant of the Forces, or a big gun Minister of Defence, Mr Seddon was feign to admit that there was something in what the riflemen said after all, and he is now understood to be sitting down with a wet towel round his head, with the Commandant of the Forces and his staff in immediate attendance, concocting a new set of regulations. All this is of course very exasperating or amusing as the case may be, but the raw crude fact that underlies the whole thing is that the volunteer system as at present carried on is so much pretence and great ado about very little. It is not the fault of the volunteers that so much time is cut to waste in pursuing an intangible phantom of efficiency. Many of the leading citizens in the community spend a lot of time in trying to convert raw material into effective fighting machinery, but really if it came to defending our shores from the enemy the rudimentary ideas of field service and discipline which are inculcated in our camps would not avail much in face of the stern reality of war. The most efficient men who are being trained in the Colony at the present time are the mounted rifle corps, and big gun batteries. The volunteers otherwise are fairly well grounded in elementary manual exercises, but of solid training and work under practical conditions they know nothing. They get a lot out of fun in their camps, and look—some of them—very fine and military in their uniforms, but for practical purposes—it is no use burking the fact— they are inefficient. The raw material is there, and the intelligence is there. When the bugle makes its stirring call to war, volunteers and j civilians alike are urgently, almost embarrassingly, responsive. But directly they go into a camp they have to start to unlearn everything they have been taught under peaceful canvass, and in fact to begin all over again. This was well exemplified during the preparation of the various contingents for the work they were called upon to do in South Africa, The only section of our volunteers that we know of which has tried to snap red tape and branch out into practical work on its own account, is the Wellington volunteer which for two years in succession has swept ever the Wairarapa plains in open column, and experienced the fatigues and embarrassments of a long march through rough and broken country. It needs only the " casualty lists" of those comparatively mild and innocuous flights towards reality to convince the critic that "form" is as essential to volunteering as to any other pursuit in which physical stamina is called into active play. Another, and somewhat more heroic form of exercise in which the Wellington volunteere engage is that of route-marching, which partakes more of the character of athletics pure and simple than of military training per se. But, as we have said the great majority of volunteers simply carry on in some sort of way, badly officered, ill-equipped, wretchedly disciplined. Under these circumstances the Rifle Clubs and more especially those .whose members are constantly in the saddle and who travel freely about the country making acquaintance with new ranges and changed conditions are laying the foundations of a better class of defence than the volunteers as at present constituted would be capable of making. Any blow struck j at Eifie Clubs is a blow struck at the country settler and one of the most salutary pastimes which he enjoys, and if Mr Seddon persists in sniping at the Rifle Clubs from behind ten thousand.piled up rolls of red tape it will not avail, because in the day of trouble our Rifle Clubs and their members—old and disgusted volunteers many of them are—will be in spirit and in truth our first line of defence.

According !o the Wairarapa Standard, T. F. Moore, who recently created a sensation by threatening the life of Sir Joseph Ward, is reported to have been engaged by the Government to purchase stock for South Africa. The local bodies in the Thames district are urging the Government to push on with the survey of the Piako swamp, so as to throw open the many thousands of acres thus available for settlement. According to the Canterbury Times, the Invercargill Dairy Supply Company turns over no less than 6000 pigs a year. These are fed at the 12 creameries connected with the company's butter factory at Invercargill. The idea is no doubt a source of considerable profit, but is one which is accompanied with a considerable degree of danger to the butterrnaking process, chat is unless the piggeries are thoroughly isolated and kept in the best possible order. Mx W. C. Buchanan, who defeated Mr Hornsby for the Wairarapa seat, has already accomplished something for his constituents. As a result ot his endeavours, Government surveyors are at present pegging out the proposed sites of the Papawai bridges. Mr Buchanan has also accompanied Mr Hurslhouse to Stronvar and the fcaek country with reference to the needs of the settlers in that locality, The Mangaweka sports were held yesterday in perfect weather, and there was a record attendance. Tke following are the dinners of principal events : —100 yds J. Gamty, 220 yds and 220 yds P. Coulter, 440 yds A. Arnolt, 1 mile Smith, + mile Barnes It may interest stockowners to know that water has recently been laid on in the cattle yards of the Palmtrston railway station, so that stock arriving by a night (rain may be conveniently watered. Fourteen men are at present busily engager! sinking piles and. railway irons in connection with the scheme of protective works being carried out in the Oroua river near the Awahmi bridge. Two beautiful fowls were received from England yestorday by Mr J. Jarvis, of Rongotea. They are two \Vyandotle cockerel?, a buff and a silver. Both are very fine specimens of the breed, and the buff bird v particularly handsome, his feathering bc'ng practically perfect. It is notified in another column that the first term of 1903 at the Wellington Oollega will commence on 2nd February. Tho headmaster will receive parents and guardians at the collpge on Friday and Saturday, 30th and 81st January, The first term of this year at the Girls' High School, Wellington, will begin on Wednesday, 4th February. New pupils are asked to attend on Tuesday, 3rd February, when Miss i McLean will receive parents and guardians. Mrs Sommeryille, Hill-street, Wellington, bas accommodation for boarders attending the school. See advertisement in another column. At the Caledonian Sports at Wanganui yesterday, T. Stubbs from the 3 yards mark won the 100 yards flat handicap in 10 1-osec, Williams 2ud, Slipper 3rd. Among the starters was L. B. Webster, scr. Stubbs also won the 410 yards, with a handicap of 16 yards. D. Smith wou the mile handicap from scratch, in 4min 2ssecs, lowering the Ele-i- Zealand record by 5 2-ssee. Stubbs has been chosen to represent the Manawatu Athletic Club at the Championship meeting to be held iv Duuedinvest mout'ai i

Tho summer vacation of the local State schools practically ends to-day, and the schools re-open on Monday. The Nnpicr Borough Council, by a majority of two votes, has decided in favour of Saturday being tho statutory business half-holiday, ' Messrs G. H. Bennett ana Co. were the successful tenderers fcr tho supply of newspapers and iragazines for the Palnicrston Public Library fcr the ensuing yoar. A fervice in memory of tho late Bro. A. Buchan is to be held in the Congregational Church on Sunday next. The membsrs of the Cjul-I; Manawatu Lodge, A.0.P., Loyal Manawatu Lodgo of Oddfellows, and Oraua Lodga of Druids are invited to attend. The stock sale at Peilding yesterday was on the whole satisfactory. Sheep were rather dull of sale, bnt most lines were sold under the hammer. Cattle were easier than they were last week, and seversi lines were passed in, dus in tbe lnnjority of cases to the excessive reserves. The Wanganui Herald, taking tho cue from the Manawatc Daily Times, and quoting from a recant article in these columns headed " Wanted—An Engineer," says that is just what Wanganui want?. Our contemporary agrees in condemning peripatetic specialists, and votes straight out for " a qualified man on the spot." Ladies in the country are often puzzlnd to know where to send to obobtain really well-cut and smart gowns for special occasions. Mr Ellis, ladies' tailor and court dressmaker, of Kelburno Aveuue, Wolhngton, guarantees satisfaction to clients. Ilia specialities are coats and skirts, riding habits, golf and cycling costumes, opera cloaks, race cloaks, evening dresses and blouses. Mr Ellis makes a study of fitting Irotn a pattern bodice and self-measures. Famples and prices may be obtained on application. A bicycle accident that wa3 very neorly attended with fatal results, caused a great deal of excitement and commotion amongst a number of people in the Gorge on Thursday. A you'h who was cycling, it appears, collided with another rider, and fell outwards over the bank, where was a sheer drop of 50 feet. The bicycle was broken in pieces on the river bed below, but the fortunate youth managed to clutch a projecting piece of rock, and escaped almost; certain death by gradually pulling himself up in safety. A very fine traffic bridge, and one well worthy of the important position it occupies as the main link in the northern arterial road, has at last been built over the Eangitikei river at Bulls. Since the old traffic bridge was swept away the want of a structura to replace it has been a source of constant annoyance to travellers generally, and particularly to settlers in the locality. The low-level bridge erected near the ferry site by the county council was a very good substi tute for a short period, but since its destruction some months back traffic has been either by boat, ferry, e>r ford. Now a very substantial bridge, on thoroughly up-to-date lines, has been put up. and one which should be able to resist successfully the heaviest flood the Rangitikei river is capable of producing. The work of its completion is proceeding rapidly, and the opening should take place shortly. This year's ram fair, to be held by Messrs Abraham and Williams, in conjunction with the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Ltd., on February sth and 6th, promises to be th 6 most successful ever held in the colony. The last fsir, it will be remembered, was the most successful of any held in the colouy during that year, and the one approaching gives every indication of surpassing it. Entries are joining in freely, aDd a groat increase ia expected on the entries of previous years. This is no doubt dua to tho fact that Palmerston is rapidiy becoming recognised as a main centre for all important movements in stock, and breeders aro attaching move importance to this district as a field for tha disposal of their rams. It is certainly a fact that tho annual ram fair cf the Manawatu is increasing in popularity. So great is the deveiopment that the auctioneers have been compelled this year to secure the Show ground on which to hold the sale, the maguitude of the fair having outstripped the accommodation at their command in the large saleyards in Ran-gitikei-sfcreet The total entries to date are close on 2000.