THE DEFENCE FORCES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2934, 8 June 1910, Page 14

THE DEFENCE FORCES.

By Sentry.

The promotion of Captain (Acting-Major) G. R. Ritchie, of B Battery, to be major, date of commission September 1,1909, is gazetted. The Rev. Amos Reader has been appointed hon. chaplain 4th Battalion Otago Rifles. The Colonial Auxiliary Forces long-ser-rice medal has been awarded to Lieutenant Bhanks, Gore Rifles. The Ist Battalion has been losing more officers. Lieutenant Allen" (of the Dunedin Rifles) and Lieutenant Kerkham (of the Caversham Rifles) have resigned. The Caversham Rifles are now left with "one officer. The local Non-commissioned Officers' Club W being run mainly as a social club for the first part of the session. Members have been turning up in good numbers to spend an hour in card playing, etc., on the open night. Later on something in the shape of lectures wil probably be arranged for. The syllabus provided for the Officers' Club for the session 1910 is obviously the product of a live executive. Officers taking advantage of the complete syllabus should profit considerably in point of military knowledge. The work to be attempted is progressive, the leading idea being the selection of a portion of the local defence area to be thoroughly studied and worked over fey stages throughout the winter, so that at the end of the session there should be no feature of the possibilities of that area for defence purposes that is not understood ■by those following out the course. The idea stands mostly to the credit of the practical president of the club, Lieutenantcolonel J. Allen. Lieutenant-colonel Smyth, in the course of his re-marks on " Reconnaisance" at the latest meeting of the club, intimated that the area selected was that south of Dunedin from about Kaikorai Hill towards Taieri Mouth. The ground will be reconnoitred by officers of the different branches of the service from their varying points of view, and finally (October 22) there will be a regimental tour of the selected area, lasting two days. Leading up to that end there will be lectures and war games on a map of the selected area. The syllabus includes lectures by Major Snowball, Lieutenant-colonel Chayter, Major Ritchie, Lieutenant-colonel Smyth, Captain Gard'ner, and Lieutenant-colonel Allen. .Social evenings are generously interspersed ilrith the more serious business of the club. It is a far cry .to the Boer. war, yet 4raite recently a member of the Seventh Contingent, who had been wounded in the Lead, was obliged to undergo an operation iu the Dunedin Hospital, and the doctors extracted from beneath the skull portion of a bullet, the presence of which accounted for the fact that the patient had frequently bten found in a state of collapse at his work. The programme of the "Sixth Annual Royal Naval and Military Tournament and Atsault-at-Arms," to be held at Palmerston North on November 8 and 9, is to hand early from the secretary (Lieutenant Willoughby), in whom we seem to recognise a former member of the Dunedin City Guards. It is claimed that the tournament is in no sense a carnival or sports gatheringonly; it is a fixture for the purpose of encouraging skill with arms, discipline and general efficiency, fostering esprit de corps, and to act as an incentive for the individual territorial to improve his training. It holds the interest of the men, and affords them an interesting and instructive training, and enables them to see other corps at work. Free railway passes and steamer fares will b; issued to all bona fide competitors by the sth November, 1910, by the hon. secretary, but competitors are cautioned that any man attending the tournament and failing to compete in one or more he may have entered for will be required to refund the cost of railway fare, together with Is entrance money to the ground. Endeavours will be made to obtain concessions for competitors travelling by eteamer (Union Steam Ship Company). The competitions include : —Driving and Casualty competitions (three non-commis-tioned officers, two gunners, three drivers £15); Range-finding by Field Artillery {three men, £3); Gyn Drill or Repository {instructor and 12 men, £15); Field Observatory, 40ft high (£10); Field Cable Line (one commander and seven men, £5); Sword v. Sword (mounted, £1 10s); Balaclava Melee (four men, £5); Wrestling on horseback (four men, £3); Lemon Cutting (£1 10s); Costume Race (£1); Infantry Maxim Gun (without horses, £10); Tent Pegging (£5); Lloyd-Lindsay (four men, £2 Tug-of-war on horseback (four men, £2 10s); Trumpet competition (£1 10s); Physical Drill (non-commissioned officer and eight men, Silver Challenge Cup and £12); Bayonet Fighting (non-commissioned officer and eight men, £10); Rifle and Firing exercises (non-commissioned officer and jeight men, " £10); Route Marching (noncommissioned officer and eight men, £ls, and gold medal for each of the winning team); Bayonet v. Bayonet (£1 10s); Tent Pitching and Striking (five men, £6); Bugle (£l 10s) ; Tug-of-war (eight men, £10); Field Sketching-(£31; Morse Signalling (four men, £5); Semaphore Signalling (classes A and B, four men, £10); Fielfl 'Ambulance (four men, £2 10s); Stretcher Drill for Bandsmen (£3); and several competitions for Cadets. For the Physical Drill, Bayonet Fighting, and Rifle exercises competitions, single rank will be adopted. The Route Marching competition is an interesting one. The conditions are:—

Teams of eight under a non-commissioned officer. Corporals may be in the ranks. The teams will start from the front of grand stand and march about seven miles over natural country, fording at leest one river. Each member of team will carry greatcoat (rolled) and 100 rounds of ball ammunition. Each team will be required' (1) to s&'nd and receive one semaphore, signalling message of 40 letters; (2) to double two distances of 400 yards; (3) to fire five rounds ball per man at surprise targets on a flank (any position), distance to be judged. Note. —The non-commissioned officer in charge' will not fire. Dress: Drill order, with haversacks and water-bottles filled. Ball ammunition will be served out previous to starting. Rifles must be inspected immediately after firing and before resuming march. Points will by awarded: Correctness of marching (adherence to regulation pace), 50; commands, 15; execution of same, 15; semaphore signalling, 20; each hit on target to count one; appearance and style, 10. Spaces (unknown to competitors) will be measured off for the purpose of timing competitors' paces by judges. A plan sketch of route will be handed leaders of teams on morning of competition. As told by an Irish instructor in Blatchford's "My Life in the Army":—"The service is no good since discipline has been relaxed. In the old days, bedad, any galoot of that kind would be drummed out. I remember a man of my company when I was in the dirty half-hundred (the sth Foot), was drummed out for burglin' the canteen and calling the senior-major an Irish goat. When they used to drum a man out they cut the facin's and the buttons off him, and turned his tunic inside out. And the l regiment was formed up at open order, facin' inwards. And the prisoner was marched down the line« to the tune of the " Rogue's March," wid the drums and fifes behind aim, until he came to the? gate, whin the youngest drummer kicked him out. Well, this trauneen was marched down the red lane and duly kicked through the gate. And whin he was through the gate he was a civilian, d'ye mind? And he turned about as proud as a juke, and says he to the colonel, says he: 'Ye may dismiss yer men, colonel,' he says; ' they are the dirtiest lot of blackguards I ever inspected in me life,' says he. And bedad, the colonel was that wild he looked as if he could ate him." It is understood that the receipts and expenditure on the New Zealand Rifle Championship meeting, which was held in March last, have shown a fairly substantial deficiency. Previous rifle championship meetings at Trentham have resulted in balances on the wrong but the debit balance on the last occasion is understood to be considerably larger than those previously recorded. In connection with the formation of one company of Garrison Artillery 100 strong in place of the present two companies— Dunedin and Port Chalmers Navals,—it is understood that the Defence Council is in the meantime leaving the question as to how the adjustment is to be made to the consideration of the local authorities. A meeting of those concerned was held on Thursday, and it is understood that as the result of that meeting a recommendation as to the best method of adjustment will he forwarded to headquarters. Asked as to the decision arrived at, Lieutenantcolonel Allen was not prepared to make it public. The Dunedin company is senior to Port by eight days. The Cadat movement is very popular with schoolboys, and at least one schoolmaster in. Taranaki finds that even the little fellows like to shoulder the toy rifle and look martial (says the Taranaki Daily News). Plence, although he has only about 20 of the required age and future, he has an active Cadet company «f about double that number. The email boys are a sort of recruiting ground, and th» recruits are allowed to loin in the " manwiwres." The other day the Cadets at this **fiool had a field day. Lieutenant Three-fe&t-six was left in charge of a point of vantage, and the schoolmaster, who is also captain of the company, led the attacking party. Leaving a reserve he and his merry men advanced in skirmishing order. The captain himself Was cautiously proceeding alone down a creek bed, with a view of spying out the land. He was getting alone: very nicely, and congratulating himself upon the success of his doctor, when a small voice piped out: "You're my prisoner, sir!" Looking up Quickly, he found himself gazing at the end of a toy rifle, where the barrel ought to be. The youngster was the smallest of the recruits, and he was posted in a tree to watch for scouts. Th 3 captain called his war dogs off, and the defenders won the day.