AUCKLAND RIFLE VOLUNTEERS.- ATTENTION !

New Zealand Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1843, 10 December 1869, Page 4

AUCKLAND RIFLE VOLUNTEERS.ATTENTION !

To tho Editor of the Hebaid. Sib, —The present state of the corps aa a whole calls for a few remarks. I hare attnnd'd your parades pretty constantly in spirit, and |have often heard it growled in the ranks that volunteering is getting to be all humbug. Of conrse, tlie growlers not understanding the causes of the present Btate of things, I propose to state them, and to show the only remedies. The Auckland liifle Volunteers formerly had the presence and aid of the moneyed and property-holdiDg members of the community. At the present the corps is composed mainly of those who have their liviog to get by their own personal labour. Thie feet alone mmt oventually smother volunteer effort.

Since the growth of the Thames goldfield, many members have left Auckland, but have not resigned, tliua thinning the ranks on parade, however they may look on the muster roll. The officers have not left in proportion,, consequently your Corps looks on parade like a coat with three times tho u.-ual number of buttons, and the men must feel like the toad nnder the harrow. J u fact, if things on much longer as they are doing, it will bo necessary to elect the privates from among the officers. In the face of all this, an application has been mad to the Government to form you into a battalion, -which would entitle you to a fieldofficer, surgeon, aseiatant surgeon, adjutant, sergeant-mHJor, and quarter-master eergeant. This, mind you, for an average muster of fifty or sisty men. Ic is not likely this request will bo granted, as it carries an absurdity on the face of it. It then remains for the volunteers to resign in a body, or for tho Government to disband them, and thas put an end to what is so often designated by many in your ranks, " humbug. ,. The property of the Corps, as a whole, is by Volunteer Act, vested in the Commanding (Juicer, which you have not gut; failing him, it may be vested in trustees, which you have not got either. Consequently, the property of the Corps—such as band instruments, cups, prizes, &c.—are all running wild, and without any Ie2"l control, the consequences, no doubt being, m-iuy will b'J nassing when called for. Add to this the fact of no authority, since yonr Managing Couimutee was shelved, to carry out rifle competitions for the prises of the Corps, aa well as othere so liberally offered by some gentlemen belonging to the Auckland public. .Add, again, to this the accruing accounts for insurance of drill-shed, bandmaster's salary, and other expenses pertaining to the Corps as a whole, and your surprise will cease when you hear, as I have so often done, the exclamation, "humbug." Ono other alternative Rtrikes me 88 poseible. Let all the officers resign their commissions; then let the non-commissioned officers return to t'>e ranks, 'the whole of the skeletons of companies to amalgamate, and to form one creditable Corps. In the event of this being too difficult, there only remains for the whole to r: sign, or for the Q-overnment to disband, them. —1 am, &c, The Ghost of a Volunteer of '43.