VOLUNTEER AND SERVICE JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12660, 14 September 1904, Page 7

VOLUNTEER AND SERVICE JOTTINGS.

; : '.,' t »T BEMTIJOU..J AxJCKLANii Garrison JNon-commissioned Officers' Olub ball next Friday, week (September 23) at the Choral Hall. The Victoria Rifles and No. 1 Gorrieon Artillery companies will have the use -of the Mount Eden, Rifle Range next Saturday. The parade of the Garrison Artillery corps on Wednesday evening next at the fort? curries a personal payment of 2s 6d per bead. Should the Akarana Rifle Club disbanu as a defence' club its place is likely to be taken by another club, including several of the present Akarana members and a number of exvolunteers. ■ :;.,.■ :, '; ;: . . The return shooting match between the No. 1 Natives and Newton Rifles commenced on Saturday last, was unfinished vn j account of the rain, but will be completed at some future date. Nothing has been heard lately of She proposed garrison officers' ball, but I trust that the iuea has not been abandoned. There should be no difficulty in conducting it most successful officers' ball annually if our officers would only pull together m the matter. r • The class of instruction held three nights weekly at the Drill Hall continues to be i attended by some 28 of our garrison officers, i who appear to bo deriving considerable t benefit from the lectures given by the commandant, Colonel Owen. To-night and.on Friday the subject will be outpost duties, m auuition to which the officers will receive instructions as tc : the training of recruits in firing exercises. News from Gore announces the death recently of Mrs. John Shanks, wife of Sergeant Shanks, of the New Zealand Bisley team, who is on his way back to the colony. Widespread regret has been expressed throughout the Gore district. The circumstances are the more painful on account of the deceased lady's husband being away, and; he, too. will know nothing of the matter till he readier a port of calL The corps ', forming the Auckland Division New Zealand Garrison Artillery volunteers will parado at the forte on Wednesday next, when they : will defend the post against a supposed hostile cruiser, in tine shape of the Lady Roberts, under command of Lieut. ■ Murdoch, of. the Devonporfc Submarine Miners. Blank ammunition will be served out, and a valuable and instructive night's work is promised for both attackers and defenders. The annual football match between teame representing the Victoria and Gordon Rifle Corps was played on Saturday last at the Domain ground, when the "Vies, won by 12 points to 4. For the winners Cantell and Schofield each scored a try, one of which Schofield converted, and McMillan potted c capital goal from the field. - For the Gordon? Johns kicked a goal from a mark. Mi. H. Speight had charge of the game, and gave every satisfaction. ■ ' .■ ■; i' i"i ■■. .„ -:. ■ ~ j In the course of a letter to his brother (Lieut. R. G. Cox), Private W. Cox. the Auckland member of the New 'Zealand rifle team, says that the Bisley champion of 1904. (Perry) impressed him as a somewhat careless rifle shot, and had .a line on his bar " like a piece of wool." The . King's Prize winner was not seriously considered by his comrades as a likely man to annex the coveted honour of champion rifle shot, and was actually left out of th« MoKihnon Cup team, because they thought they had better ; mea. • ■ -' • • ",- " ' The amounts won by the members of the; New Zealand rifle team at Bisley and other meetings about London at which they competed are as under:— Sandford, £79 10s; Col.-Sergt. Irvine, £53 10s; Private Hawthorne, £34 Sergt. Shanks, £32 1 Sergt. Chin?, £31; Private Cox. £24; . Col.-Sergt. - Mci-venzie, £19 10s; Sergt.' Drammond, £lo 10s; Private Ballinger, £16 10s: Private King, £14 10s. Sergt. Smaill and Captain Domigan do not figure on the list from which I gathered my. information, and it might also be mentioned that the amounts opposite the names of the various marksmen include their shore : of the Kolapore Cup prize-money, which, by mutual agreement, was equally divided among the members. In last week's notes I made reference to the fftc* v.that somewhat, strained relations existed between the town and country marksmen of the Auckland district, through j » difference that arose in connection with oae of the competitions at the last Association prize-firing meeting on January 1 and 2. A country"■ friend writes informing me > that while the main facts were correct I was in error in stating that the friction occurred at the meeting held in Auckland, the difference having cropped up at the Cambridge meeting on January 29. In the circumstances a. correction is necessary, ,but, as,l, said last week, I trust the breach will be quickly healed, and that everything, i will work smoothly during the incoming shooting season. ;

Private W. 'Owe, of the New Zealand rifle team, was most favourably impressed with the management of the Bisley meeting, arid particularly with the marking, which was done by the regulars. Each range has its practice targets, and four shots cost Is. As to the prize money, everything practically depends on the shooting in the first stage of the King's Prise, as this competition counts in nearly all the beat aggregates, and it is a common thing to see marksmen poking up and leaving when they: have started badly in the first stage. Private Cox expresses the opinion that too much depends upon the "first shoot," as success or failure means everything, whereas in New Zealand a man always has a good chance right up to the last match. '

The British Admiralty is abandoning the 4.7 in and 6in guns in favour of a 9m gun. The destructive power of naval guns becomes every year more terrible. The latest type of gun introduced in the British Navy is remarkable for its great length, over 37ft, obmbined with its relatively small diameter, 36in at the breach and 18in at the muzzle, and its comparative lightness, 28 tons. ; Its bore is 9.2 in, its projectile weighs 3»01b, and at 300 yds this missile can be driven through llin of Krupp steel. The. barrel ia made of an inner tube, enclosed in a jacket of wound steel wire. This gun is reckoned equal in destructive power to the 13i bore guns that preceded it, which have more than double its weight The muzzle velocity of the projectile is 2900 ft per second.

The companies of the No. 1 Battalion. j Auckland Infantry will bo put through a j useful course of night attack drill next Wednesday. 'The right half of the battalion will assemble on the site of the last Domain camp (old Chinamen's gardens), under Major Myers, at half-past seven p.m., and the left half, under Captain Heed, will parade at the Drill Hall at the same hour. The defending party (right half) will have outposts posted, with patrols, and the attackera (left half) "will throw out scouts and advance guards, and will endeavour to locate and seize the enemy's position, which will bo.in book, part of the Domain. The duty of the attackers will of course be to get in as close touch with the enemy as possible without making their presence known to the defending party. Colonel W. B. White, officer commanding the battalion, will act as umpire. In consequence of a complaint from a country correspondent, published in last week's, notes, touching the inaccurate sighting of the .303 rifle, I asked if any other marksmen could give mo their experiences. My request has brought the following from " Trigger" (Ponsonby), to whom I am indebted:— " Sentinel:" Dear Sir,—With reference to the inaccurate sighting of the .303 rifle, mentioned in last Wednesday's Herald, perhaps my experience may be of interest-. Until two years ago 1 was a member of a volunteer corps in England, and did a good deal of shooting. In 1897 the Lee-Metford rifle was issued to us. The one I had allotted to me carried \S inches to the left at SOOyds, though in othei respects it was a good weapon, and I won many prizes with it. at Bisley and elsewhere. Three yoars afterwards, as it • bad been returned to Birmingham, I got anothet ono, this time a Lee-Enfield. On trying it at 500 yds J. had great difficulty in finding -the target, owing to ■ the : fact that the rifle carried 3ft 6in to the right. I promptly took it back to the armoury, and managed to exchange it for a Lee-Metford. I also tried this at 500 yds, with good results, via., 10 shots, 10 bulUeyes. Needless to. say, I was quite satisfied, "and retained it as long as I could. I won many prizes with it. and found it to shoot dead straight at all ordinary ranges. In some of the Continental factories every rifle is tested by "an expert marksman before being issued, but this is not done in England. About fou- years ago it was found that the Lee-Enfields then iv use carried to one dide, owing to -the foresight not being in the centre line of the barrel. Instead of altering the foresight, the authorities, acting on the ■ principle that " two wrongs make p right," issued new backsights, having the V set to one side. Sow: of then? were sent to our corps, and J. have seen many e marksman hopelessly muddled

in trying to put on a wind line with his 'vernier. I do not fcinOw whether Any if the** weapon*: were sent to New ; Zealand, but it is to he hoped not. v I have at various times tested many, rifles, both of Government and private make, and have found very few I Nf them correctly sighted. This Li matte.; j of vital importance; and should be remedied. j i The Spectator, in a long article on military matters, sets forth in the following manner its ideas of what & military force appropriate to the national needs should involve 1 -- (1) An army of professional soldiers tc garrisonl and hold India and the rest of the Empire ; oversea. Let tu call it an Imperial force- tjji policing the Empire. (2) A reserve belonging to the Imperial Police, which will render it elastic and capable of expansion at a time of stress. (3) A force of professional soldiers kept ready in.(ibis country to go beyond sea at moment'b notice to meet some sudden emergency—an expediti snafy force that i, ready to perform on e , gr/eat scale the duty clone on a small scale by the squad of men acept at the headquarters of every effioient police force; a body of men which the police authorities can 'throat into a particular district in ease of a di?ituvbance. (4) A force of professional soldiers to garrison permanently our great arsenals and such defensive forts and works . &a are tc be found in the United Kingdom. '(6) A reserve attached to the home-stationed force, whether maintained for expeditionary or garrison work, able to expand for both purposes quickly in case of need. (6) A Home Defonce Army, consisting not of professional soldiers, i.e., men who give their whole time to soldiering of officers and men who pursue their ordinary civil avocations during the greater part of the year, but who are trained, and well trained, in the essentials of military service. (7) A reserve attached to this Home Defence Army, capable of greatly increasing its numbers at a moment of . national danger. (8) A special reserve*—consisting of all the trained "men in the Kingdom who have passed out ot the other reserve forces, but Who.are still willing and able to perform military i work— of which a large force could be | raised if and when it become obvious that the resources of the nation would be straintjd to the full. (9) A skeleton organisation which could be used to give an appropriate organisation to the special reserve of trained men should it be necessary to draw upon it. (10) Stores of extra rifles and guns and ammunition sufficient in case of a great emergency to arm the greater portion :of ; the adult male population.