VOLUNTEERING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1855, 10 June 1887, Page 22

VOLUNTEERING.

. The Port Chalmers Naval Artillery paraded at .the Garrison Hall,, George street, on Friday evening. The parade state was as follows : — 1 captain, 1 lieutenant, 1 chief, 4 first and, 4 second .class petty-officers, and a full attendance of gunners.. ,The, shooting prizes' won by members of the company en the Queen's Birthday were* presented to the . winners — Lieutenant M'Donald, Petty-officers Wilson and ;■ Buckley,' Seamen 'Stewart and A. M'Donald. Petty-officer Wilson also took'the company's belt,' Lieutenant M'Donald the first and Seaman Stewart \ the second medals after the annual competition.; ' The Dunedin, Navals fired the final match for the company's prizes on Saturday afternoon. The following were the principal scores: — • ' , „ ' 200 300 500 yds. yds. yds.H'cp.Tl. »Pts. P.O. B.Eice ... 18 16 17 4— 55 \ 5Gunner James Jack 14 18 18 50 \ 4 Gunner.Woollett ... 17 13 13 2-45 j 3 Gunner John Jack ... 17 14 8 3 — 42 ;*2 Gunner J. Searle ... 16 7 10 6— 39 I 1 P.O. Morrison ... 13 '15 4 6— 38 j Gunner James Jack secures Mr Hislop's handsome silver cup and £2 with an aggregate of 24 points; Petty-officer B. Price, 19 points,' silver medal (presented by Petty-officer Donaldson) and £1 ss; Gunners John Jack, E.'Woollett, and J. Searle receive cash, prizes. , | A return has been issued showing the result j of thecompetition among the volunteers arpied with rifles .within the colony for the musketry prizes of last year, on the returns of the class firing. The Kumara Rifles, .with a figure of "I merit, 91*77 points, heads the lists for the (first prize, £60 ; Clutha second, 91-50, £50 ; Ashburton, third, 7776, £40; Otepopo, fourth, 7771, £30; Riverton, fifth, 75-72, £20; Cromwell,! sixth, 74-75, £20 ; Waitahuna, Carterton, Bt uce, Nelson City, Wakari, and Ponsonby corps each receive £15; -Dunedin City Guards, Hobso'n," Napier, Auckland City Guards Victoria, Blenheim,, Oamaru, and Wanganui Rifles take £10 each; North Dunedin, Wellington City Thames Rangers, Dunedin City Guards, Arrow and "Cromwell Rifles receive ea/sh £T prjzes; Temuka, Newtown/Waikouaitiijahd East Taieri .corps respectively are entitled to £5. jThe North Canterbury companies pre conspicuous by their absence in this distribution of about £459 worth of prizes. ' '. ' One of the officers placed under arrest during ' the recent' volunteer squabble in Auckland was 1 Lieutenant Palmer, an Auckland .solicitor. Lieutenant-colonel Mahon's charges against him were not proved, and Lieutenant Palmer then brought counter charges against Mahon, which' were, however, ignored., , Mr Palmer is at i present, iri^ Wellington for , the purpose! of obtaining an inquiry into the. charges, and he also '.desires to 'obtain possession of a letter addressed ,by r one of the members of , hi? company to Major-general j Whitmore, which he requires ,as evidence in an action for slander which' he '.intends touring against the wittter.'. Mr, Palmer is 'likely to be a candidate for the Rodney seat' at the next general election. ' ..The .system adopted' by the Defence Minister of, awarding' prizes, to the different, volunteer companies according to percentage of passes in class firing, will (says the. Oamaru Mail) require very careful "watching to prevent a pretty general system of swindling being carried on. The' authorities have doue'well jua keeping 1 the matter secret thus far,' but we can assure Majorgeneral Sir George Whitmore jbhat unless some responsible and reliable person's be appointed to witness* the firing and do the? scoring, he, will suddenly find himself at the, head "of the finest body of marksmen the world has ever produced —that is; theoretically so ; but, like the French navy, it will be a paper qualification. We believe that many of pur J.P's, would willingly supervise the shooting on such occasions,) and we suggest that the authorities request one or two of these gentlemen to act for each company. Unless something of the, sort, be! done, volunteers who desire to act honestly will feel /themselves/placed at a great disadvantage to corps who have no such qualm. tfhe greatest manufactory and storehouse of cannons and war materials is Woolwich Arsenal. It Jbas within its enclosure 280 acres of land, of which some 160 ( acres are covered with buildings. When in full operation it employs ,18,000 persons. The amount of ammunition stored there is immense, and cannon can be counted by the hundred^ 'In the storehouse a stock of 20,000 cavalry" saddles , are kept constantly, on hand, with a corresponding amount of , horse-shoes, nails, halters, traces, collars, harnesses for transportation trains &c. What is the. length and weight' of the rifle that our soldiers use? The Martini-Henry, which in 1871 was adopted as the weapon for ■the whole of the English army, and which is still the weapon in the hands of our troops; is now about to be suspended. Although it possesses great merits, it has been found that most of the foreign weapons have a lower trajectory at short ranges ; and the authorities have endeavoured to improve the '* Henry " barrel, so that it should be superior to all other weapons at khort ranges as well as long. The new rifle— the Enfield-Martini— has the same breech action as the Martini-Henry, but the barrel

has far greater power as, regards accuracy, low; ness of trajectory, and perietratioh.^The following table gives*the particulars as to weight, fee., of both weapons : — > »•> <»*• "' . - ' • >Martini- r % jEnfieldHenry.' - Martini. Weight ... ... 91b "... , 91b330z Weight, with bayonet... 101b ... ,101b4os Length" ; 4ftl§in . .... ,4ft 1 Jin Length,.with bayonet... sfbll£in ... sft 11 Jin Twist in rifling ... lin 22 > ... lln 15 Sighted up. to. , ... ,130Pyda ... -2000 yds Charge of powder ... 85gr ... "85gr Weight of bullet ■ < .... ,480gr „ ... ,-384gr Some amendments of the Volunteer Regulations are gazetted! ' Amongst other things it is provided [that .captains' of the volunteer forces of 10 years' continuous ', service as such will, on application and passing qualifying examination, be promoted to the rank of- major. Captains commandant,and captains of naval artillery corps of similar service will have equal relative rank and command in the' volunteer, force without the title of major. ■ , ' ' , Hitherto the volunteers have been divided into'riflemen who hunted "pots," and riflemen who were satisfied"with themselves when they hit a large 1 target' at moderate ranges' 12 times in 60 tries. A man was " efficient " after firing 60 rounds of; ball- cartridge, though tlie v vast majority of his shots may have gone into the air 'or theground. r^The infuture -will be a trifle higher, which is so much gained. — Saturday 'Review. .. {; . , :>*■;' -/ 'jj