OUR VOLUNTEERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1901, 18 February 1870, Page 4

OUR VOLUNTEERS.

A cobbesjpoxdext in another column draws attention to the indifference of our citizens to take up the rifle and form themselves into Volunteer corps for the defence of the colony. We scarcely blame the individuals -who have time and strength to perform this duty, yet do not do it, as we blame those whose duty it is, iu their official capacity, to organise such a force, and in their individual capacity to maintain it. Seven yenrs ago, when there was rool and instant need of their services, the young men of Auckland showed themselves fully equal to the occasion, and judicious management on the part of those in authority at that time i might have organised a local volunteer force, -which would have been now the pride and strength of the Province. "What has made Volunteering so popular at home has been the encouragement and countenance shown to tiie movement by persons of all classes from the very highest in the Kingdom. It came to be accounted honourable to belong to a Volunteer corps, and the ranks soon filled. The same would be the case in Auckland if similar encouragement were afforded to the movement. There is no doubt but that the knowledge that there were in Auckland from six hundred to a thousand Rifle Volunteers ready at any moment to take the field wjuld have a most salutary effect upon the disaffected natives, more especially upon those on whose suf--feraneo we may say our Waikato settlers must now be to a certain extent content to live. We should not need to study then whether such and such an act on our part " made " their heart's dark" or not, but could afford to act promptly and with justice, regardless of such consequences as now hamper us. But if we are to possess such a Volunteer force as this, we must go to work very differently to get it together. We must afford inducements to enrol and render the service attractive in every possible way. We must have less of the goose-step and more rifle-shooting, and if we are to have the latter, we must have the butts brought in nearer to town than Point Chevalier. We must have sham fights and grand field-days, and showy uniforms, and our rifle-prizes must be competed for on gala days, and the winners be presented with the prizes they have won, not through notification iu the Gazette, but from fair hands that will add zest to the competition. Altogether, we must treat the movement as one to be honored, not jeered at. That it is possible to do so —possible to fill up and increase our few scanty corps to a lull regiment—we have no doubt whatever. We should liko to see the community as a whole taking up the Volunteer movement, either directly or indirectly. Let the young men shoulder the rifle ; and let those of their elders who can afford it advance the movement by becoming honorary members of corps, while all may assist in encouraging it in other and less direct ways. The services of the Rifle Volunteers of Auckland have been shamefully ignored. During the -war they did hard service in the field, and behaved well under fire when in command of Colonel, then Major, Lyon, the best officer that ever held commission in connection with the Rifle Volunteers; but they scarcely received a public acknowledgment of their services, and will it be believed, to the discredit of the ladies of Auckland, hare not even been presented with a set of colors. Our correspondent, and others, who would see the movement assume the position it should do, must appeal to something more than a feeling of patriotism as a spur to recruiting. It is not the recruit that must be whipped up to tlio point of volunteering, but the nonrecruiting portion of the community that must be induced to organise and maintain a system under which Volunteering shall become so attractive to young men as to ensure full ranks.