THE DEFENCE FORCES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3114, 19 November 1913, Page 6

THE DEFENCE FORCES.

By Se\ t tby

The six days’ camp in connection with No. 2 Field Ambulance will be held at Tahuna Park, commencing on November 29. The outcome of the conference on the subject of prize-firing throughout the Otago district is that the proposal to hold in Dunedin about Easter a rifle meeting under the control of headquarters staff has been abandoned. and the 'money available will be divided as usual amongst the Dunedin, Invercargill, Gore, 1 and Oamaru Rifle Associations. Railway passes will be granted subject to the 100 miles limitation. The small group meetings for Cadets and the younger Territorials will bo held as proposed. The group''having Oamaru as its headquarters is so scattered that it is probable that three small prize-firing meetings will be held, maybe at Oamaru, Ranfurly, and Queenstown. ' The conditions in connection with the selling of tickets for the forthcoming military display in Dunedin were framed to provide the impecunious cadet with an opportunity to earn money to* enable him to take part in the tournament at Auckland. That the scheme has been welcomed by those whom it was designed to benefit is evident from the fact that some cadets have already applied-for their third £1 packet of tickets. The 25 per cent, commission hsa also attracted the attention of other cadets.

There has been a reorganisation of A and D squadrons, sth regiment. The Tnieri troop, which has hitherto been retained in A Squadron, has at last been detached, and the Taieri is now the headquarters of D Squadron, which comprises all troops of the regiment south of Dunedin, and which will presently absorb the Arro.wtown section of the 7th Regiment -The A Squadron now comprises the Dunedin men and all'the sih Regiment Troops on the Peninsula and north of Dunedin. 4 •

The British infantry, with the exception of the Indian Army, the Special Reserve, and the Territorials, is to be reorganised into battalions of four instead of eight companies. The new (dirigible “Eta” performed a startling feat on the 20ih ult., when it was despatched from Farnborough to Odiham to tow back the small Willows airship, which was lying in a flying camp temporarily incapacitated by engine trouble. The “Eta,’-’, which was built in the Government sheds, is undergoing trials prior to being taken over by. the Royal Flying Corps, but it was no part of the tost that she should tow another airship a distance of 14- miles—a feat never before attempted. The dirigible, however, accomplished the task without mishap, under the navigation of Captain Waterlow, R.E., and Lieutenant Usborne, R.N., with a crew of factory mechanics, while Lieutenant Woodcock, with one assistant, steered the Willows. Six hundred feet of cable connected the two dirigibles, which, in order to lesson file risk of collision, travelled on two different levels, the “Eta” being about 200 ft higher than the disabled airship. The Paris papers are full of stories of General de Negrier, the popular officer, who died recently. Though worshipped by the majority of his men, General de Negrier was too ‘eyere a disciplinarian not to have some enemies. It is said that one day, when, during a manoeuvre, he was riding in front of a company, a bullet whistled past his head. De Negrier turned in a flash, and ran his eye down the ranks. One man _ blenched. “Captain,®’ ordered de Negrier. in a clear voice of command, “ give that man there a week’s guardroom. With a rifle like ours it is criminal to miss at 50 yards.”