VOLUNTEER AND SERVICE JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12044, 14 August 1902, Page 3

VOLUNTEER AND SERVICE JOTTINGS.

[bt ; sentinel.]

The 'Auckland Naval Artillery Volunteers will parade at the forts on Wednesday,evening next. Recruits will parade to go through recruit gun drill.

The Onehunga Rifle Volunteers will bold their fifth annual "At Home" in the Onehunga Public Hall on Friday, September 5. A pleasant evening is- promised.

The Government rifle range at Mount Eden will be at the disposal of the Nos. 1. 2, and 3 Native Rifle Companies to-day. Lieutenant Coutts will be in charge of the firingpoint. ■

The Seddon Horse Mounted Rifles are in camp of instruction at the North Shore. The corps will be inspected by Major Holga'jc, officer commanding he No. I. Battalion Auckland Mounted Infantry, to-morrow evening.'':' . " ' *

Captain T. .T. M. Todd. D.5.0.. intends returning to .South Africa, and taking up his permanent residence there. It is understood that he has accepted an appointment as a commercial traveller with a big firm there.

It lias been decided that the forthcoming social in connection with the opening of the new drill hall for the Auckland volunteers is to be a strictly military one. which means that only those "in uniform will be allowed on the floor. A meeting of committee, will be held this evening to make final ,; arrange; ments in connection with the function. ".'.'.

There appears to be some dissatisfaction in the ranks of the formed volunteer corps at Warkwortb witli regard to the officering of the company,-and I bear that the officer commanding the district; (LieutenantColonel Reid) intends visiting Warkworth iii Hkj, course of a day or two with a view to fettling the difficulty. ' *.•„ • ,

The annual social of'.the So. 2 Company New Zealand Native Rifles will be held tomorrow (Friday) evening at St. George's Hall, when tire following members of the company who went to South Africa with the contingents will be welcomed home again:—Lance-Corooral Hill, Troopers Harrop and Parker (Seventh Contingent); and Troopers Braund and Mol-loy (Eighth Contingent). " , _ "

The military parade, on Saturday last, in connection with the King's Coronation, passed off mast successfully, and all concerned deserve a word of praise. It was the first important military function held in Auckland since Lieutenant-Colonel, Re-id was appointecXto the acting-command of the district, and he is to be warmly complimented on the completeness of- the arrangements, everything passing oft' without a single hitch.

It is now some mouths; since the Governmen negotiated the purchase of the rifle range at Penrose, but . matters are no " forrader'" now than when th© purchase of the "site was completed.-: - The .; worst part :of the winter months will be over very shortly, and unless the necessary steps are ' immediately taken for the equipment of the range, and the work is pushed forward with'- the' utmost despatch, the shooting season will again be .with us before a suitable range is at tire disposal of our volunteers. ' t

Lieutenant Wynyard-Joss,' of Queensland, who, was here last week with the returned troopers by ; the .Britannic, is an old New Zealander, and was i formerly in business for some years in Auckland. About twelve mouths before ftoing to the front with the Queensland Cyclist Corps, Lieutenant Wyn-yard-Joss went to Queensland to take up ill? appointment there with leading firm of cycle dealers, and in the course of ' a chat with him the other day, he informed me that he intends returning to his old situation'.;

: ' The monthly meeting of the Auckland Noncommissioned Officers' Club was held en Tuesday evening, when there was a very good attendance of members. A capital lecture on the coastal defences of the colony, illustrated by. means of plans and sketches, was delivered by Sergeant-Major Rowles, of the Permanent Force,, who afterwards answered a number of questions ou gunnery matters, etc. The sergeant-major was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his interesting and instructive lecture.

"Volunteer," Thames, writes:—"To ' Sen'-;' i tinel :' Sir, Will you kindly inform, me in | your column in v the '. Herald "■ (i) ,as ;to ■; the number, of ; parades a. volunteer should attend during the year to earn his Government capitation: (2) can a. commander of a company fine a. member for non-attendance at an : inspection parade after he has put in the number _ of _ parades which qualifies \ him for his capitation? (3) do ordinary weekly drills count in the qualification for.earning the capitation?" In answer to my correspondent, I may say (1) that a volunteer must attend 18 parades during the year to qualify, for the Government capitation; j(2) an officer commanding a. company can fin© a volunteer for not attending any parade he may see fit to call, provided duo notification of said parade .has bee» given; . (3) the rule is' to count two parados monthly, and these .-are" usually ordinary company, drill parades.

In his annual report on the defences of the colony, the Commandant (General Babington), in touching on the question of ammunition, says it is unfortunate •'"that: the price of small • arm ammunition remains so high. It would certainly give a great fillip to shooting if the price could be reduced, but there is not much likelihood of any substantial reduction, as the prices charged here are not higher than those in England,: where* the i hours of the workers ' are much longer and the rate of wages lower. The Commandant adds: that the quality, of the am- ! munition supplied by the Colonial Ammunition Company is good, and goes on to say that the output of the company: is; however, small, and in the event of war would in the existing circumstances fail very short of the demand. As a matter of fact, the New. Zealand i factory is turning out; at the rate of 6,000,000 rounds of ammunition per annum a supply, that '-would,-on- a. population basis,compare more than favourably with the output of Great Britain. :.",.-.

I The Commission of Inquiry set up at Wellington to investigate the allegations of over- ; crowding on the .troopship Britannic on the return journey from South Africa ■'; has commenced its labours, and the report will bo awaited with interest. Among the allegations ■made by the troopers was one to the effect that little or no control was exercised 5 over the men by the officer commanding, and the finding in this connection will appeal directly to Aucklanders, as the officer against whom the allegation is made is none other than Colonel It. H. Davies, C.8., who won distinction at the front, in command of one of the earlier contingents, and proved himself-.a most popular and efficient officer during bis command of the Auckland volunteer district; I have it on very good, authority that the men who returned by the Britannic received their discharges from the Imperial Government before leaving South Africa, and were therefore civilians sent home at tire expense of the Imperial authorities, during the return journey. -If this is correct, then Colonel Davies had no control over the men, and for the sake of his good name will no doubt be more, than anxious that the wlwle matter should be thoroughly sifted.

At the Royal United Service Institution recently, Professor G. Forbes, F.R.S., , delivered a lecture on his experiences in South Africa with a new infantry range-finder. The lecturer said the range-finder was designed for use with the rifle up to 3000 yds, and had been found of great service with field artillery. He had been engaged upon it intermittently since 1889, and continuously since 1898. The range-finder enabled him to discover that the most experienced and trusted officers who had been serving through out the war had sometimes given a distance as 2800 yds when it was under 700 yds, and at other times had given' a distance as 500 yds when it was over 1200 yds. Officers rarely relied upon the mekometer. Officers• anil men in, the field were unanimous in the opinion that the universally recognised want which had - often - nullified the strategy .'of! leaders and- the endurasfie of meu was the want of a quick, r handy, reliable, one-man range-finder. The want had in every aotion reduced the casualties to a fraction of what they might have been. Professor Forbes claimed that he could always give the range long before the two men occupied with the mekometer had concluded their preliminary consultation as to.the. exact point to be observed. No jolting in long gallops puts the range-finder out of order. In conclusion, Professoi' Forbes described his instrument in detail, and spoke of the failure of the range-': takers at Okehampton Camp last year. . J