THE RIFLE CHAMPIONSHIP MEETING

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1618, 4 March 1903, Page 49

THE RIFLE CHAMPIONSHIP MEETING

SHOOTING TO BEGIN TO-MORROW. PREPARATIONS AT TRENT’S!AM. Excellent preparatory work for the annual meeting of the New Zealand Defence Forces Rifle Association has been done at Trentham during the last seven days under the superintendence of Colonel Sommervilic, who has for many years past been the guiding star of tho association, and tv ho, with Lieut.-Colonel rviHi'n.s, still chiefly directs its doings. lh- a U‘'nVt ; "" u Hlt’dc ill the programme this year by tho executive council some comment that was adverse as well as some that was commendatory, and it now remains to be said that the response cf the Volunteers to the pi ogramrno drawn up has been eminently satisfactory to tho executive, for there is an entry cf comptitors this year that exceeds ail previous records. Another satisfactory aspect of the case is Ihe very large entry of tyros for the different events at the meeting; and v. remains to be said, also, that the riflemen have at least temporarily sunk their grievances and have entered in large numbers for tho half-dozen or so events left open to i hem. The increase of competitors has made desirable the provision of extra ac'vmmo da fieri, and with that end m view a squad cf Permanent Artillerymen, under Colonel bsemmerville, has been engaged in setting up five extra targets, shifting accessory sheds, mowing grass,, and generally improving; tho conditions on the range. Tho additional targets have been divided between the north and south ends c-f the trenches, and at each cf the ranges from 200yds to 700yds ucl 1-n iacl o i: ioun cl s Is av c be c n raised up opposite the new targets. There a plethora of grass on tho range f:cm a marksman’s point of view, excellent though it may appear to the eye of a grazier. Apropos of this, it may be 'mentioned that recently there were two thousand travelling sheep m the vicinity of tho range for which the owners wished to secure a short rest. An' offer of £ls was made for the use of the range for the sheep for a period of two nights, but the usual process of aooketing ancl referring and reporting ar.d tape-tying had to be negotiated, v. ith the result that the owners of the sheep became afraid that this year’s :. ei'ket would be missed if they waited for a departmental answer to their offer —and thus a money-saving and financially profitable chance for the department v.as lost.

Last year there was tremble at iiontham because of the poor quality or the drinking water. This fault, winch arose from tire well being sunk on a marshy portion of the range, has now been overcome as a result of a contract let by tno Public Works Department to Messrs. Ballinger Bros. This firm has now instituted a supply from a source high up the hill. The ..water is of excellent quality. In the matter of meals, the executive has made arrangements fordoing its own catering (at a nominal charge). "Under present arrangement a competent staff of cooks, responsible to the executive, wiil’attciid to the commissariat, and for all who have their meals in the camp there will no tints and straw bedding provided tree of charge.

A new and greatly improved system of taking scores (adapted by Colonel Sommerville from the Bisley method) will be used at this year’s meeting. In 1902 the method was for squads of twelve to go to the firing point together, and for each man to have to stand by until all had finished shooting, tho souring being done by the competitors themselves. This necessitated many hours of work which under the amended rules will be avoided, for now only three marksmen for each target will come out at a time. Registerkeepers (who will he non-competitors) will ho in attendance, and as each marksman fires his shot the signalled hit will be called and then recorded the register-keeper on a blackboard, the old process of scoring with pencil on a card being abandoned. Three special range officers have been appointed under this, system, their duty being to go round to each blackboard as each trio rises from firing, copy on cards (with ink) the blackboard record, and take tlie cards to the council hall. Here the old order is again to be changed, for in place of the laborious checking of several scores of cards seriatim, it will now ho possible to do the checking much more quickly by reason of an arrangement of pigeon-holes, into which the range officers will sort the cards which bear high scores, such as, say, 49 in a possible 50, 67 in 70 and so forth. The new arrangement lias points in its favour that commend it to all who have investigated the matter. In all there will be thirty targets available on the range for purposes of matches; and in addition there will be two “pool” targets available. One (a 700yds target) is situated to the right of the range proper; the other (a 500yds target) is at the base of a bill to the back, of the competitors’ tents, the direction being north and south. Under the new system above described there will be much more spare time available to competitors, and for that reason the “pool” targets have been set up*

The telegraph office, which will again be under the supervision of Mr Oram, lias this year been fitted up with a duplex instrument, a provision that will greatly facilitate the business that will be done by a bevy of special correspondents and of prize-winners desirous of sending early news to anxious relatives. The telegraph office tins year will be somewhat circumscribed, one half of the building formerly used having been commandeered for use as an arsenal. Should any unforeseen explosion take place news wall be sent in by train. Telephone com muni cation with the butts is by side-line as formerly—a somewhat slow ancl very tedious process involving much shouting and running about in t-hft case of far-off targets. It is satisfactory to kiiCW that arrangements have been made whereby next year a iriple system will be installed, providing a line for the central targets and one each for the sides. The cost of this installation will be about £60 —a cheap convenience. Last year the Defence Minister promised the executive that he would have tho trench below the targets set with bricks, in order to make the work of the markers easier and less uncomfortable. In wet weather the clay of the trenches becomes so slippery as to make tho work of the markers dangerous. Tho executive confidently expects that the promise of bricks will bo renewed this year.

Competitors are already arriving in camp,, although the meeting will nor open Till Thursday next. Yesterday afternoon about a dozen Otago men went under canvas; also a few marksmen from other Southern provinces. A good many marksmen who intend shooting at tho championship meeting yesterday went north toGreytown (where a small rifle meeting is being held), with a view to getting preliminary practice.

The winner of the championship last year (Rifleman G. Hyde, of Masterton) will bo a competitor at this year’s meeting, but the runner-up (Rifleman H. Hawthorne, of Ivarori) will be unable to take part this year through stress of business. His brother, however, who is a'so a good shot, will represent the family. Quito a number of ex-champions are going to' compete, and everything indicates that the meeting of 1903 is likely to be one of the most successful ever held by the association.