THE VOLUNTEER PRIZE FIRING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2236, 6 April 1869, Page 2

THE VOLUNTEER PRIZE FIRING.

The 'distribntaonof prizes to the beu>ce»3ful competitora inthe? Middle lalaud .matches took place yesterday,in .ttf|.;.isWhf^>. yincial; Council pKamber. -Thorß ; j«as :! A. jv good sprinkling of civilians present in tha galleries, and the staff was represented by Lieut.-Colonel Oargillj Major Batltgate, and Captain and .Adjutant Atkinson. The proceedings weire commenced by

Lteufc.-Colonel Oabgui,, who «aid tha(^. " as they were aware, this was, tho firsfc ■ • occasion on which the colonial shootiog., had taken place-in Otago, and he was afraid it would be the <a»t opportunity theyvould have- of witnessing-it, «• *h* opinion of Otago weather formed by their friends from the-other provinces wouldbe1 folly confirmed ; and, as a result, tie General Government would, not have the firing hei-e again, ia order to,provent the*, recurrence 'of the unfavourable cxreant- . stances o£ Friday and Saturdayla»t. HeJto-, gretted that the . hurrying away of tha steamer had prevented the'attendance o£ , t a larg<» htimber of flue public, 'aYwelTott, - that occasion as on Saturday, who wonls! - otherwise have .gladly dons so.' He did not know that lie had nmch^moro to »&?*

except to cajl on Mrs Cargifl, who had consented to present the prizes to the Volunteers, He might mention that the responsibility of the steamer's departure before * the day expected, rested solely ■with the company to which she belonged, who wantisd her to make an extra trip in connection with the expected arrival of H.B.H. the Duke of Edinburgh,

Mrcs (jKwnvL then* proceeded to present the prizes to those who had won them:

When Lieut, Goldie, the winner of the first prize came forward,

Lieut.-Col. Cajuull explained thati there had been no general New Zealand competition this year, and a« a consequence the Champion Bolt was still worn—and* worn worthily—by Sergt. Taylor. In the Middle Island competition Lieut. Goldie had made an excellent score, one above the winning score of last year, and it seemed au if the score' was going up every year. The other prizes wore then delivered, the reprewontativea of the other colonies who had won, being received very heartily "by the public present. With relation to the prizes in the 700 and 800 yards match, Lieut.-Colonel GAWMLt> said that this match had been foot in a fierce gale of wind, and* as none of the scores reached the minimum provided for, he could not confer any prize. Ha considered, however, that the result of the .firing on that day was more creditable than if a large score had been made on a fine day, as it required greater skill to hit tlie target on that day, than to get any emount of marks on a fine day. Though unsuccessful as far as the prize-taking was concerned Capt. M'Farhmd had scored 29; Volunteer Grant 26 ; and Volunteer Fisher, an old townsman, now of Westland, 24. He need hardly toll tfiem that not the least pleasing part of Ills duty that day lay in the presentation of the prizes to the Cadets. They had fired on Saturday in very stormy weather, Bnd the scores mado were in proportion fully equal to that of the Volunteers, and Irighly creditable to tho boys, In firing oif the first time, three of them iriado 14 each, and in shooting off those ties—-10, 15, and 14, wero made. Their firing was particularly ateady and good, and while itf reflected great credit on them, it was Very hopeful for the future. He trusted that they would continue to tread in the footsteps of their seniors, and that in years to come they would take a high place. Mrs Cargill than presented tho praos to the three boya, The Superintendent remarked that he need hardly say that he was exceedingly OTaftfied to find that on this occasionOtago had held its own, and that it not only held tho Champion Belt, but had on this occasioutaken a considerable proportion of tho prizes. That must bo gratifying to all Otago men, and at the same time it was almost equally gratifying to «cc that our own marksmen had been- cloßely run. Ho hoped that the same energy, persevoranco, and diligence would bo exhibited by our men to tho full in future, in order to enable Otago to occupy the same position with respect to prizes given in the future. To the strangers who were present, he could concur with Lieutonant-Colonol Cargill in expressing his regret that the hurry of meeting and tho change which had taken placo in the day of departure of the steamer had prevented that attention being paid them which, as representative men, they were justly entitled to receive, and which all of our citizens would have been glad and proud to accord them. Ho hoped sincerely that the prognostications of Col. Cargill, with relation to tho shooting not being hold hero again, wero not woll founded, and that they would havo the pleasure of seeing thorn again, and a much better opportunity of forming their acquaintance.—(Cheers.)

The Bey. Mr Stiuiit said that, as Chaplain of Volunteers, ho had oil more than ono occasion expressed hia hearty approval of tho movement, which lie looked on, in fact, as an educational movement, *an appendix indeed to our already good educational scheme. Holding that opinion, he had always encouraged his own sons, amd the boys of Dunedin and Otago, to join in it. He was sorry that the boy a of the province were not represented amongst tho cadets; but that could he easily accounted for. Ho trusted that, by tho noxt competition, there would be representative cadots both from the High School and the common schools. The rev. gentleman concluded by expressing hu» regret-that he was unable to be present at the dinner on Saturday evening.

•With relation to the dinner, the Sttpkmntendent also explained that his absence was caused through the change of the time from. Monday to Saturday.

After cheers Tor Her Majesty the Queen, the Volunteers from the other provinces, and, in return, for the Ofcago Volunteers, the proceedings terminated.

The Volunteers left the jetty by the two o'clock boat, and their departure wai ■witnessed !iy a large number of pennons, a salute of 12 guns boing fired in their honour.