THE WELLINGTON VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4240, 22 October 1874, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —A very remarkable parliamentary paper has only just been printed, even for the information of members, viz.; A report by Major Gordon, Inspector of Volunteers, of his inspection of the New Zealand volunteer force, dated Auckland, sth August, 1874. (H. 24 ; price, Is.) This gentleman began his task at Wellington on the 10th of December, 1873. This is what he- says of the Wellington Artillery Company ; —“ In appearance, as regards uniformity of equipment, physique, &c., it is one which could scarcely be excelled ; fcut I found it very deficient in its knowledge of squad and company drill, though expert in the use of its ordnance. Its instructor was very defective in his knowledge of certain portions of the rudiments of his duty, owing perhaps to his having' for too long a period of Iris Imperial service served in the tailor’s shop of hi» battery.”

The Lyttelton, Times, in reviewing this report on the Bth inst., calls it “ the most entertaining, and in some respects most instructive, parliamentary paper of last session.” It goes on to say—“ There is a quiet vein of humor iu Major Gordon’s report, which most people will find refreshing, and which is certainly unusual in documents of this kind.” And it then quotes the above passage as an instance of the humorous refreshment.

I feel certain that many other members of the corps in question will consider the humor of the Inspector very much out of place, if not, indeed, a gross libel upon the instructor referred to. His part, however, has been already taken by Mr. Chas. M. Gray, a member of the Christchurch Artillery Vohu> teers, from whose letter, published in the Lyttelton Times of the 10th October, I extract these passages ; —He retorts upon that paper that its description of the report “is, iu more regards than one, an erroneous conclusion, and one that is not borne out by facts.” He “ will endeavor to show the utter unreliability of both Major Gordon and his report. The simple fact of the Defence Minister being so reluctant to make the report public, shows what is thought of it at head-quarters. The general feeling with which it will be read will be one of indignation, not at the severity of the criticisms, but at their gross injustice in many cases. I am one of those who by no means consider the volunteer force to be in a satisfactory condition, and am of opinion that volunteering, as at present conducted, is, in many cases, little better than a farce ; bat Major Gordon fails altogether to detect the deficiencies of the system, and, instead, indulges in an almost wholesale condemnation and bitterly unjust assertions iu reference to particular cases. . . . His report in my opinion is calculated to make matters worse instead of better. . . . As a Northern

paper puts it, he was chosen to run a muck with the volunteers, and his report, instead of being that of a judicious and experienced officer interested in his work, and anxious to promote the efficiency of the force, is that of a narrow-minded martinet imbued with a thorough contempt for the force he now belongs to, and anxious to depreciate it and its members in every possible way. Major Gordon may have been a very good adjutant in the 73rd foot, but he lacks all the qualifications which an Inspector of Volunteers should possess, foremost among which I may rank prudence, patience, regard for truth, and the ability to trace events to their cause. I do not believe he knows anything of active service in this colony (which, by the way, I do), and he seems to entertain a most holy horror of bad roads and wet weather. In. almost every province numerous corn® mained unvisited by him from those causes.” Instances of this are then cited by Mr. Gray ; who then goes on to quote the above censure of the Wellington Artillery Instructor, and thus comments upon it : —“ A more unbecoming sneer on the part of an officer and a gentleman cannot he conceived, and it has not the redeeming feature of truth, as a foundation. Major Gordon is not an artillery officer, and I might be justified in expressing some doubts as to his qualifications for forming an opinion regarding anyone’s knowledge of Artillery drill What, I should like to ask, does Major Gordon know about artillery drill at all that he should have been selected their inspector ? The instructor he found fault with in Wellington, entered the Imperial service in 1841, and soon after joining was, for a brief period, in the tailor’s shop of his battery ; but his usefulness was soon discovered, and he was restored to his duty. In 1849 he got his bombardier’s stripes, in 1853 he was made a corporal, and in 1854 a full sergeant ; and for thirteen years this man, now declared by Major Gordon not to know the ‘rudiments of his duty,’ served as a sergeant in the Boyal Artillery, and for the greater part of the time at the head-quarters at Woolwich. He was, at his own request, discharged with a pension and his testimonials in 1865.” The members' of the W.AV. owe their hearty thanks to Mr. Gray for his manly defence of their instructor. He has left little for any of us to say. It may be well to trace Major Gordon’s career in the army. His name last ajipears on the roll of the 73rd Boot, in Hart’s Army List of October, 1865, as junior captain, having entered as an ensign in 1854, become lieutenant in 1858, and captain (by purchase) August 4, 1865. We find in a note that he, “prior to entering the army, served in the commissariat and ordnance departments at the Cape of Good Hope in 1851-3 (Kaffir war medal). Served in the Indian mutiny campaign on the Oude and Gorruckpore frontiers as Field Adjutant, and accompanied a successful cavalry patrol in pursuit of rebels near the Jerwah Pass, Nepaul frontier ; mentioned in despatches. (Medal).” He was adjutant of the 73rd Bcgiment from 1860-1 till he became a captain, a period of four or five years. He became a major in the New Zealand Militia December 19, 1866. It is a pity that that an officer who has himself deserved well of his country by regular military service, after beginning as a commissariat or ordnance clerk, should degrade himself by depreciating the capacity of a veteran non-commissioned officer of the Boyal Artillery for instructing volunteers of the same arm, on the ground that for a short period at the beginning of his twenty-four years’ service he sat on the regimental tailor’s board,—l am, &c., Charles Brown, Member of W.A.V.