THE DEFENCE FORCES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15321, 8 December 1911, Page 10

THE DEFENCE FORCES.

Bt Sehtbt. [Itom« of interest ooiioornin* corps (town And oouiitryj, shootiiiß, and defence matters generally will be uocepted. Copj. •ddratcd to " Scntrj, ' should bo in band bv noon on Thursday.] Tli usual dates from May 18 to 26 liavo been approved tor the annual training camp ot me sth Regiment (Otago Hussaraj. 'Hie silo of the camp will prouably be in the neighbourhood oi tbo Wingatui Itacecourse. ' Thos. iloiiayne, General Manager Now Zealand Railways, has been appointed to bo Director of Railway Transport, with the rank of coloncl. Hunter" M-acaudrew, District lingineer Otago Railways, lias bcon appointed to bo lieutenant-coloncl to command a battnlion. By the order cancclling all parades from December 4 to 14 the proposed week-end cainp oil December 9 and 10 in connection with 13 Battery waa knocked on tho liead. Permircion to carry out this (raining has since been granted, however. Tho battery will parade at tho Garrison Hr.ll on Saturday at 2 p.m., and proceed as usual to Taliuna Park. Shell practice is to bo carried out. Following right on from the week-end training tlis non-coin-missioned olliee.ru will liavo special instruction, remaining in «unp until December 14. Captain Mftidlow, artillery staff officcr, will be present. Thereafter there will be no further parados until January 17. For the swearing-in ceremony the Senior Cadets muster in much botter forco than do the Territorials. No. 30 Compstiy Senior Cadets (Invcrcnrgill), commanded by Mr ).?ggatt, numbers 55. At tho , parade for swearing-in nil wcro present , save four. _ i In his preliminary work in connection with tho training of the Senior Ciulets Captain Thorns is working ou sound iines. His ideal is to provide an efficient /-.taff . of officers awl non-commissioned oflkerj as j instructors beforo the training of the Cadets Li actively commenced. Clas.ic.sof instruction have been held, and these aro being followed up by camps of instruction ; for Cadet otlicers and non-commissioned i officere. Such a camp has just been con- 1 eluded at 0,-unaru. Another was commenced on Tuerdav at Rugby I'ark. Invcrcargill, under tho direction of Captain Mooro, and a third will be commenced at Gore on the 11th inst., under tho supervision of Captain Glendining. _ . At Oamaru, whore two companies arc provided for, four Cadet ofiioors and 31 boys selected to train as non-commissioned ofiicem ntkndod tho camp, which was under the por&Dnal supervision of Captain Thorns. The camp was pitched on tho Show Grounds, anil the training una lurried out morning and ovening for tho space of a fortnight, Scrgt.-major Wood, of the mounted brigade, and Scrgt.-major Bimt, of I! Squadron, sth Regiment, being present to inntruct, wlrilo Scrgt.-major Cuff was quartormaster-Mrgt. Tho work was elementary, tho routine being as follows Reveille, 5 a.m.; coffee, 5.10 a.m.; paTcdo for physical exercise, 5.30 to 6.30 a.m.; parade for squad drill, 6.10 to 7 a.m.; breakfast, 7.15 a.m. j tea. 6.30 ,vm; squad drill 7 to 8 p.m.; signalling, 8.10 to 9.10 p.m. Tbc lads were keen, and made excellent progress. Indeed, at the close, a competent critic said in reference to one squad that for drill it could not be beaten in Otago. The Cadets jad a pleasant time, and spent Bomo of their leifluro in fencing and boxing practice, Chas. Herbert, tho heavy-weight champion of New Zealand, coaching in "the manly art-." An enjoyable sports meeting was held before camp was struck. It will probably be some months beforo the Senior Cadets will commence their training. Meanwhile tho officers and noncommissioned otlicers will parade and drill as n. company, so that thev should bo thoroughly fit for tho duty of training the otlxrs when the time arrive/?. The required number of names having been secured, tho application for the acreptancc of the services of the Kiwi Defence Rifle Club is being forwarded through the usual channcl. At a mooting on Monday evening Major Frodric, .Major Ross, Mr J. J. Clark, and Mr R. ISrinsley were elcctcd vice-presidents, and .Major Frcdric was electsd treasurer. Staff Scrgt.-major Colbert, at present instructor to No. 2 Company New Zea'and Engineers, has been appointed Quarter-inaster-scrgt. to tlx) 4th Regiment (Otago Rifles). With the exception of the Punotlin Engineers, for whom an instructor is yet to como, the number of staff oliitcrs and instructors for tho various regiments etc., in Otago is now complete. The quartermastor-scrgts. who recently spent a busy period in Wellington and absorbed an enormous amount of instrnotion in minimum time have now, with the exception of Scrgt.-major Colbert, taken up their duties, the Otago appointments being G. C. Black, sth Mounted Hides (Ota-go Hilars); L S. I). Graham, 7th Mounted Rifles (Southland M.R.); .1. F. Meade, 12th Mountol Rifles (Otago M.R.); W. Colbert, 4th Regiment (OUigo Rifle?); U. Robinson, Bth Regiment (Southland RilW: F. W. Kibblowjitc, lOtli Regiment (North Otago Riflssl: D. P. Pryde, 14th Regiment (South dago Otago is to be represented at the big military tournament at Palmerrton Norl entries for which close on December jo. although late entries with double kes will be accepted up to Dcccmjwr 23. The Inmcwrgill City Ounr<?Sj arvftys strong in drill, propose to compete in the physval drill, arm drill, and' musketry f-eeltoiis. Tho Brigade Communication Corps h.,is men diligently training, anil hopes to fend two teams to competo in the morse m.d semaphore signalling events. Tlw 50-guinea Daily Mail Cup, won last year by the Suburb's (Wellington) llifle Club, is to bo compet-cd for annual! 7Tlve New Zealand conditions for this war arc To be tired for at Trentham r-n a day eet apart where all active financial inembem mnv participate in Hie matclr.vi, Ranges to be cOD, 500, GOO, 800, 900, iii d 1000 yards, seven diuts at each inngc, two sighters allowed. His dislocation of the railway RPrvv.c-s at Home in comequencc of the moiii strike trouble ha 3 directed attcnt.hu to the question of tho railway services in relation to war. The events of the last two or three weeks (says Clio Unit id Service Gazette) have brought home to all thinking men the necessity for a properly constituted whonie for the control o! the railways of Groat Britain in ciir-e of an outbreak of war, which would ncccss'tatc the free movement of troops all over the country. Hunger is a terrible incentive to mob law and the consequent disorder and plunder which accompany it, and whilst ths laws on the Statute Bool; ;i>o allowed to lapse and irresponsible abators are permitted to openly incite men : to engage in civil war, under certain conditions which have arisen recently and may any day aroie again, the urgent necessity for absolute control of tho traffic routes cannot !>e overstate!. To give an idea of the importance that other nations attach to the preparation and c.ntrol of railways for meeting the eventualities of war, we might instance the way in which Germany has laid in readiness up to her frontiers, railway tracks wlkn can only be used for imc purpose, to say nothing of the huge sidings she has* erected for the rapid entraining and disentraining of army wrps, Hero in England we cannot even run our troops from one side of the metropolis to the other without a tedious transhipping process. An attack on this country in raso of a temporary disablement oi the North Sea fleet would be r.ii : V:i and determined *o!h»i freedom of movement for our troops is ataolutelv essentia!. We cannot trust, the incendiary spirits of this country t.i remain loyal to their country in the hour of need, for their selfishness apparently knows no patri-:i.-m. It is well, [~>•> fore, that our railway scheme lies ready to hand, and that the link lines of the metropolis be at ouco put in ordsr " SECONDARY SCHOOLS SH'JOTIXO COMPETITION. The shooting in connection with tlj.> secondary schools' annual foiupoti'.iin year produced some remarkably high smrco considering the agfs of the competitors.

The conditions were seven *hnta aiitl a compulsory eighter at 200 yd» and SCOyue (HMoy targets), tcami of eight. The reisulU wore oe follows :— School. Average. 300 600 Total. Amage. In. Mo. King'i Celtfgo, Auckland 16 8 350 258 (It G4.5 "ttXSL IT 7 MS 563 Ml H WalUkl ... 16 10 235 Hi 483' 61 ft John's ColIcplate ... IT 7 53« J« M "•• "ftf C 0!: 10 8 »> M 0 473 U Notion ' ... 17 »1 «" <" M Wellington Iβ 5 !« «J 46T SR.S7J oC . ... 18 8 «l 353 461 57.6 Woimiinni ... 17 0 M* 357 453 M.J M.Xrough 10 8 331 310 431 63.0 Bugler Combes, King'e College, niacin a pcasible at 200 yds, while there were r,nite o. number of 34's, chiefly .tt SWy.Jf. l!ug!:r Combos has also tho higheet score in -the match, 65 out of i'O—s very liiiu performance. Tho atmosphere cuncMiNie in which the winning team fired wrc t«conical thiw :—" Weather gloomy, .<ca* ional showers; light dull ; wind variable, two to four degrees right." WINNERS TO r>ATE. 1003—Otago Hoys' High School, 605 (c'ass firing targets). 1904-Wanganui Collegiate School, 672 (clikiß firing target*). 1905—Wellington College, 630 (200,-.100, and 500 yards). IQo6—Wellington College, 771 (200, 300, and 500 yard*). 1007—Wellington College, 512. 190&-Nolson College, 585. 1909-Nclson College, 606. 1010—Wellington College, 510. 1911—King'e College- (Ancknlnd), 516.