LEGION' OF FRONTIERSMEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15480, 11 December 1913, Page 10

LEGION' OF FRONTIERSMEN.

BY rROSTTIERSMAS,

The following have been admitted to the Legion:-8505 H. H. Pavitt. 8506 J. M. Gray, sou 8507 A. Law, 8508 C. K. Will, 8509 J. H. Will. 8510 A. K. Greenfield, 8515 J. H. Aewsham, 8516 J. G. Newsham. 8160 R. D. Long. 8153 K. J. Walker, 8186 R. A. Andrews. 8487 H. A. Brasinglon. 8183 H. T. thai en.. SiS« J. J. K. Clifford. 8190 W. l ra , Dkll ° l V 8.191 R. Gollan - 8192 J- Graham. 8193 J, Holmes, 8191 D. C. Missen, 8195 J. McGregor (captain). 8196 W. Mcliinnon. 8197 t;,£-, leare ° D ' 8498 W. ti. l/ooke. 8199 O. i urselove. 8500 S. B. Sims, and 85U1 (i

0?, a month or two ago the Legion was Ser a /h?i 1, , Be f £ i on p,Minß tho ffi ««), ? e has now fi°" e »to over 8500. so;, that the 9000 mark is not tar oft.

Writing to 16 officer commanding the Gisf?Sf*J fc " l " a , dr ', the commandant-general (Lieutenant-Colonel Driscoll) gives a tew points which are well worth general circulation, .lie says:—" Keep the squadron clean, Keep the uniform modest, keep out all.swank pnd clear out all growlers and discontented men or men who wish to make a convenience or the Legion. # Get in all the shooting you can; no man is any good to us unless he can shoot. Make the squadron a brotherhood so that; all the comrades will stand or tall ny each other in peace and in war time, The whole secret of our success lies in the splendid • feeling of comradeship that' exists amongst the members of the Legion. It f as »o, Breat in my regiment in Africa from the U.t. down to the youngest trooper that nothing could prevail against us; we were never beaten because squadron backed up squadron, tioop backed up troop, and man backed up man and never was a wounded comrade lefßr And there were no courtmartials and no punishments.' We were ahappy family. This is what we want the •Legion to be."

Talking about Colonel Driscoll. his idea of how an officer should conduct himself is characteristic of him. Here is his advice to an officer:—"Don't make a gap between yourself and the other members because you happen to bear rank; a man can win respect, but he can never command or force respect. The moment he feels ho has not the confidence and respect of those who have voluntarily placed him as their leader, he had Letter get out gracefully and manfully and make way for a better man. He will thus prove himself to bo a man in every sense of the word.''

The Wairoa (H. 8.) Squadron will hold a. meeting early in January to elect a commanding officer vice Lieutenant Watts, transferred to Auckland.

Frontiersman C. T. Croawell, of the Far East command, stationed at Shanghai, is transferring to New Zealand.

The November gazette contains a very fine little article by C. Piowden. of British Columbia. Many of the points*" he makes | are equally true of New Zealand. Here ' are some extracts:—Our trouble here j is militarism— the lack of it, but ! militarism pure and simple. The position j is similar to that of the Boers. Suppose before the war they had introduced tha ' European idea of military service. Things j would have been far easier for us. They ' knew (heir country, and we did not. Apply ' this to British Columbia. It's the logger j who knows the wood.?, mountains, and trails; , the tug-boat captain who knows the coast. tides, ant channels; the surveyor who also i knows, and has the advantage of his scientific training; the storekeeper who stores food up, and knows where more can be got; i the prospector, whose aim is to go whero | none'else has ever been—these are the men ' who are the backbone of this province. Ask I them to come and drill—they wont; but ask ] them to live in the woods for weeks on a rifle and the contents of their pockets, and I they will tell you " that's easy." Dress them in uniform to do it. and the uniform will be found a mile away; but unless you ! nro on their plane you will never find them, } save at their object point. They are all intensely loyal, but in a Canadian, and pos sibly peculiar, way. They can afford to do so. because " they know things." Well, is not this the Legion's material; or is it the raw man, who, good soldier as he may bo, full of all the latest military lore, is confined by sheer ignorance to tho city and half-a-dozen miles outside, where the roads end? That is not where tho war that may como will be fought and won. Was South Africa won in Johannesburg Street? Tho Legion can never be the success it is entitled to be aa glorified soldiers on European lines. Good men are scared by titles, " men who know" by expensive dress they cannot afford and hold to be impracticable, and tho men they will salute are only the ones who can teach them something, or elso " keep their own end up." In Canada wo are having our critical time as regards defence; we know our very existence depends on its solution, and we can only call our present system " pretty." On God's earth there is no such place and time for the truo frontiersman idea, and yet some would have ■us drift from our strongest point to our weakest—assisted militarism. We have moro to give than we shall ever get. No defence offer was ever greater than that of the Legion; they ore the material that has been through the fire, proud of their independence, and types of the class that will win the next war. At the Duke of Connaught's inspection here of S.A. veterans I asked one very dirty logger in the crowd of onlookers why he was not wearing his medals in the crowd. "Oh, —! I keep them in my pants." "Two .wars! But you may have to got out again. What then?" I asked. I'd be around somewhere, but I ain't got no sort of use for officers." Wave the flag before. this class and he'll go out of sight to raise his hat. Ho is only a fypo, and •yet. worth here ft battery of artillery, because he knows the land he livos in. His !medals were in his pants in a seal bag with j hia cnewing tobacco, ■■-.-., j