VOLUNTEER FIRING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4440, 5 February 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

VOLUNTEER FIRING.

I) To the Editorjof the Hebax.d. I

Sir, —In this morning's isssue " Observer" says that he observes " the Gross imputes the non-success of our. Auckland men to the short Snider," &c. The Cross is right, for to that alone it is to be attributed; but doubtless unfair marking would have given us equally :as many extra representatives as the Thames, i About Sir J. Vogel's prize he had better have said nothing. It is a well-known fact-that the Thames men were about to shoot on that occasion on alO-inch bull's-eye, instead of an 8-ineh, had it not been measured beforehand, and they were the first, I believe, to :do away with the ringing bull's-eye, which -speaks for itself. The commanding officer at the Thames jmay be top kind and un- i .suspecting to question the marking there, j but not so Major Gordon, —ho changes : markers every few rounds, makes them; examine each other's targets, ~&c.—lt is very unkind of him. .As to the Thames men • taking the lion's share at the Colonial j Firing, I am not prepared to say i anytlnng about that, as. I am not in ] possession of the scores, but I believe our i champion won several pounds last year." ' I i think the Thames got a very fair share of points in the last two years representative i competitions, notwithstanding the few that I the rivalry existing between' the companies ] deprived them of. Rivalry cannot interfere i with fair hits, though it may with plain j f. English marking, and as. to the Thames range 1 being inconvenient, I don't_think it is more 1 so than the Auckland, and certainly cannot < ; be bo exposed to every wind that blows, i That'the Thames has many good shots no : one doubts, but there are very grave doubts < ;as to whether they could lick Auckland in 3 fair shooting. I would like to see the ques- < tionfairly settled in this way, viz., when the 1 Thames men are coming to Auckland' r.n i route for Wanganui, let,--.them come a c .day earlier, so as to afford time for a c match, and inform our men of the order i ■in which they respectively stand on 1 their list, and Auckland can pick a eorre- 1 sponding team from her list, - leaving out the £ number that corresponds with that of any f Thames man who; cannot attend; the match 1 might be fired twice.* over, as in the case of j Captain Clark's belt,' the men changing rifles c at each range, which would make it very in- 1 teresting, and would a fiord a good test of the 1 •short snider as compared with the long, and j shew the shooting capacities of both districts. 1 I only suggest this match, but would like to 1 see one or other of the teams take the matter j up and send a challenge, as so favourable an c opportunity is not likely to occur again ; a 1 return match might be fired on the return 1 from Wanganui. Amongst your Volunteer c Intelligence, this-morning, I noticed some r remarks about the attendance of thirteen're- J presentatives from one company. The pre- f ponderance of the men of that company is d perhaps owing to-its being the best shooting i, company in the district. It is not want of c martial ardour, but shooting skill that keeps c the representatives of other companies away, g as shooting with No. 3 might make their e inferiority appear too glaring. There is an- I other company in Auckland (No. 5) which c possesses several veryfair shots, but for some t reason, best known to themselves, the origi- t nal members of that company did not turn up, perhaps, like others, they thought it r j best to stay away. That Lieutenant Skin- t ner Bhould be at the top for Captain Clark's 'c belt is not to be wondered at, for he can 'a shoot a little bit, but he has not won it yet. 1; —lam, &c., Long Snider. t February 2, 1876. 1