VOLUNTEER AND SERVICE JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13846, 4 September 1908, Page 8

VOLUNTEER AND SERVICE JOTTINGS.

BY SENTINEL.

A CLASS of instruction for the Auckland Mounted Rifles will bo hold at the MBJ from September 1* to 19, Staff Sergeant Major Bell being in charge. No. 3 Company Garrison Artillery are entertaining .their old c f ?;^ am r iS°^. m orrow Hazard) an' their club room■ wiU be preevening. \"™ h gJ t fT£ deirves P the rpCel^Th^^tamoreenthu.ias. tic officer in Auckland. tion in signalling last .Thursday, have not yet been made known. On account of "he Auckland-Taranaki On account of he aucm» match, no « nm - ,;;Xr P Rugby LlSn on auspices of the \ olunteor ttugoy KSSyJ-XE J%AS*£ Annlory. __ The Rodney Mounted Rifles have launched out in a new direction they having ? .unde£ gono a course Su^X«^; directioni of *Xfi^£ffi££given this interesting branch of the work much attention. No 2 Native Rifles have reason to congratulate themselves on the large number of recruits' which have recently joined their rink"'The whole company has gone through transition during, the last few months, v*. new captain, new lieutenants, and more than half the company is comprised of new.re emits. Not for some years has there been such interest shown in the general advance ment of the company, both by officers and men. The action of Sir John Logan Campbell in presenting another challenge belt for shoot; Win place of the historic. Campbell trophy which mi won outright, has been much appreciated by local volunteers. Winnets of the new belt are to receive a silver medal, and have their names grayed on the trophy. In addition to the medal, however, provision has been made whereby each successful "shootist" will receive a photograph of the belt. New regulations governing the trophy are now being drawn up, one stipulation by the donor being that it shall not again be won outright. A scries of winter entertainments have been inaugurated by the No. 2 Native Rifles in the form of smoke concerts, euchre parties, and dances. Their next function (a euchre party and dance) will take place on September 22, and a ladies' committee is now actively engaged in arranging to make the gathering a success. There is a possibility of a debating society being established in connection with the company, the object being to debate and discuss things military connected with the volunteer movement in the Dominion. ________ THE FLEET RIFLE MATCH. The following interesting letter dated from Sydney has been received by Captain Dormer, secretary of the Penrose Rile Range Committee, from Lieutenant Hams Laning, captain of the United States Atlantic fleet rifle team:— wish to tbank you and the committee in charge of the rifle range at Penrose for tho use of the range by the fleet rifle team during our stay in Auckland. We went out and made ourselves at home on the range, and not only had excellent practice, but had a delightful time as well. We made use of everything, and may have been too free. If we were we are very sorry. Wo were really delighted with the range. Its excellent condition, especially with regard to the targets, which are, without doubt, the best I ever saw, must be as much a source of gratification to you to have it as it was a pleasure to us to use it. I hope it will not bo asking too much of vou to express to Sergeant-Major W. J. Morgan, the rangekeoper, tho thanks from all of us for the great assistance he was to us at all times. Ho seems to bo tho ideal man for the place, and the place for him. He left nothing undone to make our stay both pleasant and comfortable." The writer concluded by expressing the hope that he and his men might at some future time have the pleasure of renewing the pleasant friendship they had formed With the riflemen of Auckland. THE DEFENCE REPORT. TO THE EDITOR. Sir,To any thinking man who knows sufficient of this matter, the Defence Report makes very bad reeding indeed. It is easy to bo seen that the volunteer system is not only on its last legs, but apparently it is off its last logs, and is being propped and bolstered up simply because it is an institution that wo have got used to, and must be kept up somehow as a matter of form. In tho meantime the Government are giving their earnest attention to socialistic spoonfeeding and dry-nursing, which, in my opinion, is the cause of the decay of volunteering, for by this spoon-feeding the people have come to expect payment from tho State for everything they do; so tho beet thing our Government can do now is to " turn the spoon-feeding and dry-nursing tap on in the direction of the volunteers and the defences generally." There are comparatively few who read those annual reports or consider the defence question seriously. They are inclined to let things "slide" until the time comes, and trust to something or somepresumably " Uncle .Sam" now— see them through their difficulty. They never think that it is cowardly and mean to even hint at outside assistance until we have done our best ourselves to meet tho crisis. In the meantime our force is miserably small on paper, and off paper is much more miserably small, and a small force is of very little uso unless it ie composed of tho very best—both porsonnel and material— complete in every detail of equipment, organisation, and training. ,It would require also to be mobile in the extreme, which our force is not. It has no organised transport service, and even the medical service is not properly organised to take the field; and as regards our so-called field batteries they are anomalies. Tho guns themselves are of tho class known as light field guns, but through the parsimony of the Government in tho matter of horsing tho batteries they are only trained as batteries of position— are known in India as elephant batteries and bullock batteries. Field artillery driving and manoeuvring is an art that must be learnt to do it well, and to do it, ill at any critical period is to risk tho loss of the guns Tho batteries ought to bo horsed properly jxu-iodioally and tho sergeants and officers properly mounted, so as to enable the batteries to learn this exercise and bo trained as field batteries. Then there should be a proper proportion of machine guns (Maxims) distributed, so that the men whose duty it would be to use them may got familiar with them— wonder how many Maxims there are in the Auckland military district?) —and there should always be a good supply of artillery ammunition in store—both siege and field artillery ammunition. Officers and N.C.O.'s should bo trained to be more soldierlike in their control and handling of the men, and should not think of popularity v°/"^? n Ifc is not only in fire control the N.C.Os aro slack. I think if all this, and what is recommended in the report as well were done by tho Government turning their serious, attention to the situation, and letting a little of the spoon-feeding and drynursing lap run in the volunteers' direotion tho Government would deserve all the praise they certainly would get if they were only half as successful as they have been in the socialistic sphere with the same spoon-feed-ing and dry-nursing system. G. W. Bates