VOLUNTEER AMD SERVICE JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13160, 25 April 1906, Page 7

VOLUNTEER AMD SERVICE JOTTINGS.

[BY SENTINEL.] Thi: No. 1 Company Native Rifles paraded on Monday night, and had a, good muster. Ho far nothing more has been heard of the rumoured transfer of Colonel Davies, C.8., officer commanding the district, to Wellington. The No. 8 Company Garrison Artillery, under Captain Forbes and Lieutenant Ewin, held a splendid muster on parade on Monday evening. The Eaen Cadets paraded under Captain W. H. (Shepherd, on Monday night, and were put, through a course of physical drill by - Sergcant-Majur Cheater. About 50 were pie sent. The officers of the three Native Companies will meet 021 Thursday evening for the purpose of considering the scheme for the three companies to work together, instead of separately as heretofore. The No. 3 Company New Zealand Garrison Artillery Volunteers hold a full dress parade at the Drill Hail on Monday evening next. After inspection the men will inarch through the streets, headed by the Garrison Hand. The monthly social of the corps will he held 011 Friday evening in St. George's Hall. The No. 8 Company Garrison Artillcrv intend making an tutiy start with their cla-.i-firing for year 1906-7. They go out to Penrose 011 .Saturday next for'the purpura of commencing the firing. It. is to be liojxjd that other companies will follow suit, and not leave their class-firing until the eleventh hour, as has been the case with some in the past. An order lias been issued by (lie battalion commander, Major J. K. Heed, instructing the various companies to go through certain .sections of diilt each month. On lho last drill night of the month the major will inspect the companies in the work that has been carried out. This is a. systematic way of doing things, and 0110 which should commend itself to all concerned. The district belt was fired for at Penrose on Saturday last, and as upon former occasions attracted a large number of entries. Some excellent scores were made. Private Yeo and Lieutenant Atkinson tied in the aggregate, but the latter's score at 600 yds being better than the private's, the coveted trophy fell to Mr. Atkinson. As Lieutenant Atkinson has won the belt three times in succession it now becomes his personal propeilv. He is to be congratulated upon his excellent performance. The only European monarch who is in a position to boast of having a woman's regiment raised in his honour is the German Emperor. Some years ago, when the Kaiser was hunting in Prussia, 800 Lithuanian girls, tall and strong, formed themselves into a mounted bodyguard and offered their services as his escort. This offer was accepted, but the numbet of the escort was reduced to 200. The uniform of the regiment was of navy blue cloth, trimmed with gold, and the effect was decidedly picturesque. A meeting of the delegates front the three Native Companies was held in the Drill-shed one) night last week, lor the purpose of drawing up conditions for shooting for a cup presented by Mr. L. Harris, of Huntly. The conditions agreed upon areas follows: —(1) That the Harris Cup be fired for at the Penrose rifle range; (ii that the ranges be 200 yds and 500 yds; (3) seven shots at each distance (one sighter, not to count); (4) teams of 10 men a-sido; (5) an entrance fee of 10s ba paid by each company for its team (this money to provide a trophy for the highest sewer in the match) ; and (6) that the match be fired annually in the month of May. .. It is expected that several teams will enter, for the competition to take place next month. An article in Danzer's Armee Zeitung, by the well-known military writer, "Roda Roda," has attracted some attention. He attempts to pass judgment on the German army, and contrasts it with the French army. The Revue du Ccrele Militaire says that the Austrian writer confirms its own opinion that, if a ditch lies between the character of the two nations, there is a veritable abyss in the spirit which animates their military institutions. The idea of caste is paramount in the German army, while the French army seeks to enter more and more into an intimate connection with the country, and endeavours without ceasing to shape its military institutions in accordance with national aspirations. One army looks towards the past, the other towards the future; one represents tradition, the other evolution. The Austrian writer also makes a comparison between the Kaiser's army and that of Austria-Hungary, likening the latter very much to the j French, and indicating a similar disparity of sentiment as regards the German army. A number of hints to soldiers on hygiene will be found in- the official organ of the .Society for the Advancement of Medical Science in Japan. The infantryman is told that it has been said by a famous writer of old that " Victory rests in the feet. . . . When the shoes get torn and there are no : fresh ones to change, the feet should be bound first with dried grass, straw, etc., and then several times over with cloth, and finally Japanese straw shoes (waraji) should be worn." As to the socks, the soldier is directed to ' pull out any wrinkles and after- , wards wear ttiein by changing from one side to another, and if wet to put on new ones. , . . . If impossible to obtain good water to ease thirst, keep a pickled plum in the mouth or bite harmless things like leaves, . straw, etc., because they ease the thirst for ! a time. . . The common disease attack- . ing the army is typhoid. The poison chiefly enters the system through the medium of ! food, and therefore do not eat uncooked food or drink unboiled water." "In Corea > and China the houses are warmed by heat- • ing the lloor. If the Japanese charcoal firepot (liibachi) be iised in these houses, there > will be the danger of death through poisoning by carbonic acid gas." ! Time was when the Germans refused to , admit that any lessons of value Mere to be drawn from the war in America between the Northern and Southern States, as being merely the untutored efforts of "armed [ mobs.'' Those who would see the change which has come over the spirit of the German military school should (remarks the Broad Arrow) read a lecture which was given last October before the Berlin Military Society by Pelet-Narbonne, and which lias just been published in the Beiheft of the Militar Wochenblatt. The lecturer gives unstinted praise to the work of the cavalry in the war on both sides, and esl pecially of the horsemen led by Stuart, als though, as might have been expected, j Pelet-Narbonne declares that their .opera--1 tions can hardly be judged from a Euro- • pean standard. He is, however, generous 1 enough to say that never since the days of ' Napoleon have cavalry exercised so great an [. influence upon the result of a, war, while s hie, compares the work of the Prussian i cavalry 111 1866 most unfavourably with the > achievements of the men die ein Stuart f fuhrte. If, however, Pelet-Narbonne has . flattering remarks to make about Anglor Saxon cavalry in one hemisphere, he is ' anything but complimentary in regard to r the work of the British cavalry in another. In his whole lecture he lays immense stress j upon the importance of the personality of t the cavalry leader in the field, and is uns kind enough to say that if our mounted I men achieved anything at all during the s general advance under Lord Roberts, we have 1 |j ie personal influence of General French " only to thank for it. The whole paper is well worth perusal and study, but it is greatly to be deplored that all the German military journals do not follow the example •' which 'has been set by one or two of late i vears, and give up printing in the German d character. Life is far too short, and the I. sentences of German military writers far 1 too long and involved, for one to have to read part of our professional literature in '' so blinding a print.