VOLUNTEER NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2757, 16 January 1907, Page 14

VOLUNTEER NOTES.

By Sentry. The military tournament organised in connection with, the Christchurch International Exhibition, and carried out on December 26 and 27, was an event of such importance and magnitude in the military history of the colony that the . reservation this week of the whole of my space for comments upon tho tournament need not be apologised for. In the matter of entries -the committee achieved all that was attempted,- the gathering of Volunteers in - Christchurch during the Christmas season being as largo as the uniforms were diverse. That every Volunteer who attended ■ competed in all the events for which he entered cannot be said ; that it was seriously anticipated — however earnestly it may have been desired,— that all the visiting entrants would the mark consistently can scarcely be said either. The Volunteer has his human side jn no less degree than other mortals, and the opportunity to see the Exhibition had not escaped his notice when he made his, entries. From a. competitor's point of view the tournament was, on the whole, well managed, events for the most part being got off promptly, and in a manner which, in view of the large numbers engaged, reflected every " credit, upon tne committee in charge. Payment to winners was "spot cash" — within 15 minutes from the time the results were known. The attendance of the public was practically nil, contributing causes being doubtless the lack of sufficient advertising and the fact that passes for re-entry to the ground were not issued. The absence of th© public was greatly to be deplored. Public interes- in Volunteering is small enough, in all conscience, and* the occasion of such an interesting tournament was one which would have -been valuable in the direction of fanning the faint name of public enthusiasm to -a more appreciable glow. The. % ant:cipared difficulty in the way of accommodation for visiting Volunteers seems to "have failed of realisation. The camp, -winch was pleasantly situated in Ha#!ey .Paflr, at the- back of the Exhibition, afforded rea.-cnable comfort and accommodation for all who chose to abido th<>re. Volunteers might enter and leave when "they, chose," and the- meals provided, as far as I can learn, gave satisfaction. The judging of several of the events was not entire'y satisfactory to a number of people. In the rifle and firing exercise the Invcrcargill City Guards were the last team to take the field, and when the exercise had been completed received quite an ovation from the onlookers, the general opinion being that this team had won. But on the decision being given jt was found that the Wellington Guards were first and the Australian team second, the Invcrcargill only receiving third place. In the bayonet fighting the team ~ placed second left out the whole of the practice with the lunge, and were themselves surprised at receiving a place. The judges evidently overlooked the fact of the exercis-s not being complete. — Another matter that caused dissatisfaction was the fact of the Wellington City Guards being allowed to appear "in full-dross tunics »**_sjbe>rifle^aaid firing exercise;, and in white aingtets ~in the physical drill and the bayonot -fighting. The official programme stated that the dress in each of the practices was drill order. From inquiries made it appears that special permission was given this team to appear in white singlets ; but why were the other teams not notified that they might appear in any dress they wished? In future, if the military tournaments are to be a success, all competing teams must be on the same footing. Another matter that caused oommont was the fact 'that the exercises could be performed as laid down in either " Lifantry Training, 1902," or "X.Z. Drill" Manual, 1903." One team did the exerci-c» according to 1902 book, in two ranks, and the others followed 15.03 book, in single rank. As all drill is now done in sif>gk>' rank, it is hard to understand why drill in two rinks^ which is now obsolete, should have been allow edt , , -The. Wakari Ri£<?s were severely handi-

capped in thfe bayonet exercise on account of two of- its Team having to return to Dunedin_ '.before the contest took plrfce, two recruits "filling tho vacancies. The electrical soction of the Dunedin Engineers entered ono toain for the field telegraph comgetiuon and two for the land mining, and secured first in the one and first and second in the other. The field tomograph competition (10 men and one n.c.0.) was the first of its kind held in New Zea.'a.id. and the lines followed by the winning tea^-n will be practically adopted as the standard of similar competitions j,A the future. In this competition the No. 2 Company N.Z.E.V, (Dunedin Engineers} were an eaay Hist, Canterbury

Eneineers second. The judges commented on the smart manner in which tho winning team had erected their line, which was firmly constructed, the binding securely and neatly done, and the message — made as <iiflicult as possible by mixing cypher and Maori together — transmitted correctly to tha loiter. The tiiue taken, from the word of command to the handinj of the transmitted message to the judges, occupied 14xnin 15sec. In the land mining competition the two teams from the Dunediy Engineers were first and second ; Canterbury, well up, third. There was close competition between all the teams in this event, but the two Dunedin teams had a- slight advantage both in time and workmanship, the judges specially commenting on the perfect jointing and insulating of the winning team, the work, although done at racing speed, being as well finished as if done with deliberation. Out of 16 centres for the signalling (Morse) competition 11 toed the mark. The testa consisted of three alphabets, the time allowed being 2min 30sec (one point off for every second o^e^), with two points off for every mistake. The winners were No. 6 Company N.Z.E.V. (Wellington), who put up a fine even performance. No. 1 N.Z.E.V. (Christchurch) were a good second, two of their signalmen having only two errors between them. The K.N.Z.E. (Wellington) were a close third. No. 2 Company N.Z.E.V. (Dunedin Engineers) were fifth. The judges made special mention of the individual work of Lance-corporal Barnes (No. 1 N.Z.E.V., Christchurch), 200 points ; Sergeant Adair (No. 6 N.Z.E.V.. Wellington), 198 points; Sapper James (R.N.Z.E., Wellington), 198 points. The last-named is an ex-member of the Dunedin Engineers. For the semaphore signalling there was a field of nine teams. The conditions were the same as for the Morse, except that the time allowed was only lmin 40sec. The work was decidedly more accurate than in the Morse competition. Only one team failed to make aji average of over 190 for its four men. The winners, No. 1 Company N.Z.E.V. (Christchurch) put up a fine performance, their four men averaging 197.75. Two of them had no mistakes, one man one, and the other three ; with one second time penalty. The No. 6 Company N.Z.E.V. (Wellington), winners of the Morse test, were second, with the R.N.Z.E. (Wellington) again a hard-luck third. (This team, twice third, was made the subject of a bpecial report by the judge.) It is worthy of note that Barnes (Christchurch Engineers), who made 200 points in the Morse, repeated the performance in the semaphore. His work was an example of the high state of efficiency even a Volunteer may attain in this difficult work when he puts his heart into it. He is not a telegraph operator. His brother, Captain Barnes, also made the possible in semaphore. B Battery 'did not meet wi^h any very groat measure of success, tn«ir record being a first (gun-laying and fuse-setting combined) • and a second (casualty competition), their teams in the other events — viz., harnessing, driving, subsection alarm -being unplaced. I Battery (Westport) men have greatly improved since the last tournament, and put up some very creditable perfcrmance.s in harnessing. In the driving competition several of the teams (including the local men) were unfortunate in mistaking the course, being in consequence disqualified. The local men were beaten on their merits in harnessing. About 27 officers, non-coms., and men from B Battery were pre.«ont, about the p-ame number representing each of the other visiting batteries. A feature of tho gathering was the evident Rood-fellow-Vmp existing between the members of the various batteries. Of the 13 teams competing in the Bearer Corps' competition Dunedin supplied four. Christchurch three. Wellington Field Hospital two, Wellington Navals two, and Adelaide two. In stretcher drill some smart work was done, and of the i sr>\en teams that first took the field the two Dunedin .^quads more than held their own. The Adelaide team, while per1 haps conforming more closely to the R.A.M.C. Manual, appeared to fall behind in point of time, thougrh in fairness to the Australians it should be stated they are ossentialrv a field hospital corps, having reflfiiwrital stretcher-bonrers, and the hpht web slintjs u«>ed with their stretchers were repoatedlv swept off the handles by the high wind prevailing. In the ambulance contesi Dunedin gained in time, the .squads under Lance-co-jjoral Jowsey and Corporal Hanson boi'tg the quickest to reach the collecting station in the first portion of the test. A Wellington team and Corporal Bonnin's squad (Dunedin) wore smartest in the 6econd portion. The winning team (Christchurch) arrived third I■< time, and the Adelaide t«AB* whic£

gained second place, war. absolutely last ?o far as time was concerned. However, so even was the quality of the ambulttnce work done by the two last-named teams that the judges ordered a second test, with the result >stated. the Afielaide team, through noglecting digital pressure in arterial hemorrhage, losing- first honours by a narrow margin. The Australians' bandaging was said to be well-nigh perfect, earning warm praise from the judges. Of -the competitions in which the Garrison Artillery, including the Australian team, took part, I shall have something to add next week. Though the fact has not been made public, I understand several cases of sunstroke occurred in the bier military encampment at Christchurch, and in several instances, at least, among the school cadets hospital treatment was necessitated. Which unpleasant fact makes a strong argument in favour of a rational head-3ress. A stranger in mufti, addressing himself to a Dunedin Volunteer in Christchurch during the holidays, became so solicitous of information regarding our parrison artillery and fort defences generally that the uniformed one from the Scottish centre was constrained to become suddenly uncommunicative, suspecting the machinations of the secret service of an alien Power.