THE DEFENCE FORCES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3003, 4 October 1911, Page 13

THE DEFENCE FORCES.

By Sentry.

[ltems of interest-concerning corps (town and country), shootinpr, and defence matters generally will be accepted. addressed to "gentry," should bo in hand bv noon on Thursday. 1

It has been hinted that the posting of the new men to companies may be delayed even until after Christmas. Judging by local preparations the suggestion is very wide of the mark. Colonel Smyth hopes to' have his positing committees formed early in October, and as the. necessary data is already tabulated the. committees should not take long to complete their work. i t r The project to form a second defence rifle club in Dunediin is being revived. Only one good purpose could havo been served by the military parade in Dunedin on the evening of Dominion Day, and that was to convince the authorities _in Wellington of the folly of attempting ceremonial parades until the forces have been organised. To order a parade wnich results in such a poor muster of Territorials is to do harm rather than gcod to the new scheme. It is true that circumstances for the meet part unavoidable' have delayed the organisation of the forces under the new scheme, but why parade the fact before a public which has been looking forward to some striking development in military training. Viewing the parado on Monday evening the public comment was that it was a much poorer turn-out than would have been witnessed in the days of the Volunteers. Later on, of course, when the scheme is in good working order, the calling of such a parade will provide a' spectacle that will open the eyes of the public to the magnitude of the scheme and the. valuable results of the training. > Until then the scheme will bo, best helped j by cutting out ceremonial parades, arid a commanding- officer will. be spared the humiliation of stating to his troops thatbut for o the-muster of Boy, Scouts they would hardly have made a snow at all. The following questions ireoently asked s>n behalf of the Wellington Garrison Rifle Association, together with the department s replies appended, further discloses the mind of the department with respect to rifle associations:— ..«_.■■:,■ .<• - 1. Does the G.O.C. desire that the Wellington. Garrison Rifle Association, which .is a Territorial association, but which pro-: vides events and prizes for members of rifle clubs, should become a group rifle association ?—Yes. 2. Will Territorials be allowed, as in the past, to purchase ammunition for practice at a reduced rate? If so, how much ammunition may be purchased, and what price?—Yes. Same quantity as for rifle clubs (paragraph 685 regulations). 3. Will any allowance be given towards defraying the cost of marking? In the past a target and marking allowance of £4 per company, etc., was given, and the balance of cost was paid out of ihe capitation grants—The General Officer Commanding asks why\it is necessary to pay markers; and would beglad of full explanation. '". 4. -Will- there be any grant, of money for prizes'- for, rifle shooting open to the public as,m-the.past?—No. Should be self-support-ing; 'arid met. by entrance fees. - < Hitiherto^all..-•requisitionsfor ariimunition were to headquartenv Wellington, for_ abproval, biit there will be now no necessity to /'follow,thisprooedure, all ammunitionbeingissued oh the cinder of Officer cominandirig districts. TV .In connection, with the musketry course for trained soldiers (Territorials, Senior Cadets, and rifle clubs) for the year ending May .31, it is laid down.that in field practices (Part IV). 20 rounds per man will be issued, pirovided that not less than 20 men carry out the practices. Where no suitable ground is available simple praoticesvcan be carried out on the local range. The free. issue of ammunition field practices will be granted on the. application of the officer commanding the unit and star officer to Senior Cadets. For sent rifle clubs will not carry out field practices.

For recruits (Territorials and Senior Cadets) the local range can, be used _as a 30yds range. Twenty rounds aire available for each recruit on application of 0.0. unit or tlhe staff officer for Cadets for instructional practices. Hitherto Colonel Robin has combined the officeo of Adjutant-general and Quarter-master-general. Major Knox will irelieve him' by taking over the duties of Quarter-'master-general. : The delay on the part of the Daily Mail Newspaper Proprietary in London in forwarding the Imperial trophy to the winner of the Daily Mail Empire Day Match, fired in May last, was the subject of some comment at the annual meeting of ' the Wellington Suburbs Rifle Club' (winners of the oup). The club's president (Rifleman Jackson), the chairmany remarked that it was about time the trophy came to hand. It appeared to him that some interested person had made it his business to endeavour to prevent the club from getting: the trophy. It had been alleged that the firing for. the match had not been on . the "straight.". Well, he hadl been a* the range when the match was fired, and he saw nothing wrong. Somebody had been writing Home to the Daily Mail about it. " Do you know who he is?" inquired Rifleman J. L. Turner. " Well," said the president, " I've got a pretty good idea, but I'm not going to say." A good many of us have, an idea who he, is," said another member. The matter then dropped. As a straw indicating the direction! of the current, the following item_ from the Times is interesting:—"The National Merchants' Volunteer Corps was started at Shanghai in I§o6 by* two wealthy Chinese merchants, and, like other associations, it has had its struggles, but it has recently made rapid progress, adding 300 recruits to its numbers since the beginning of this year. In order to raise funds, a play called . How a Patriot Loves His Country' was given recently at one of the Chinese theatres in Shanghai, and over £SOO was taken in, tickets alone, and gold, money, and jewels were showered on the stage by the excited audience. Other cities, such as Hankow, Soochow, and Fooohow. are following the example of Shanghai, and similar corps will probably be formed under the' auspices of the local chambers of commerce. The drill" is modelled on Japanese lines, and the instructors are Chinese who h«ve j graduated in Japanese military schools." . ■ . Experiments were made at Cherbourg recently with a view to testing th*» capacity of an aeroplane to discover a submarine. The trials were otrried" owl* wsllt tw tor-

jjedo boats and two submarines on a day when there was only a slight breeze and a calm sea. In the first case the pilot Aufbxun was told approximately where the two submarines lay,-'arid' he, keeping at a height .of about -1000 ft to 1200 ft, found them both very easily about three miles out. The second test was more difficult, as no hint was given as to the locality of the submerged ship. Aubrun started from the Polygon and described circles after the fashion of a'. hawk, at about the same altitude as before, gradually bearing away to sea on the left. As the sun was low and the rays slanting across the water, it was not easy to aee the : sea bottom, but after a while Aubru» noticed some flashing reflection from the periscope, and was then quickly able to discover the body of the submarine in water of about 20ft depth. The result of the experiments, is taken to prove that an aeroplane caw discover a submarine from a height of over 3000 ft, whereas the periscope does not reflect the image of the aeroplane of tar more then half that height.. At the same time, it will never be easy to find a submarine even by the most practised pilot, for it is a mere speck in the vast volume of the sea. ■ On its way to the Coronation fetes, th.e Australian continent, consisting of 25 cadets and three officers, made a long stay at Berne in order to study the Swiss military system, especially' as regards the training of a Swiss boy from the time whew he enters school to his service as _ a recruit when, lie has reached, his majority. The Federal Government .delegated several Swiss officers to aid the Australians ;by showing them the model Swiss 'scholastic; and military systems. The Australians were- greatly pleased by their visit, of- instruction and pleasure, -and carried away pleasant memories /6i Switzerland.