GISBORNE'S FINAL SELECTION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 9037, 4 January 1901, Page 2

GISBORNE'S FINAL SELECTION.

At the beginning of the week the local volunteer authorities began to enrol men for the Sixth Contingent. On Wednesday, before a number of those desirous of joining the Contingent had had an opportunity of enlisting, peremptory instructions from Wellington necessitated the closing of the list. As it "was, the vacancies were over-applied for three times; but had a reasonably long time been given the aspirants for military, glory from the outlying parts of this district, there would, we feel sure,* have'beeh more than double the number of applicants that have so far come to hand. That there should be this enthusiasm — and it is gratifying to find it characteristic of the whole colony — after the hard experience of former contingenters m the held, has robbed the experiment of its glamor, and the unvarying rounds ol unrelenting military duty have worn through the thin veneer of romantic interest attaching to it, is a splendid proof of the fact that the colony's enthusiastic interest m matters" Imperial is not of I the evanescent order. Local applicants are a fine stamp of men, all measurements j giving a fair average. In point of physique they are on the whole quite up to the high standard of those who have gone before them. This monotonous chasing of the most mobile guerilla enemy which has ever taken the field against British arms, and the special difficulties attaching to hunting enemies m the territory of British subjects (who are covertly sympathising with the enemy, and who assist them m every way possible, their property being immune from damage at the hands of the troopers) will test all their powers of endurance to the utmost, and will require the best exercise of all those faculties characteristic of colonials. On that account, all the tests here have been of the most searching character. ..-- Drs. Hughes and Craig -con ; ducted the medical examination, and the riding and shooting tests were of a high order. It is a notable, and to those m charge of affairs creditable, fact that riding, shooting, and medical tests were all got through m one day. Taking all three tests together, the following final selection was made for the district: Herbert Bushnell, weight 12st, age 20, height sfb llin, chest 37in; Bertrand Cecil DeLautour, list 101 b, 22 years, sft 7Jin, 36ih; Thomas -Fraser, 12st, 24 years,. sft Bin, 36in; John Mallory Grayson, list 81b, 28 yeais, sft Win, 37in; Chas. Glass, list 10lb, 23 years, sft Bin, 37in ; John Hackett, list 71b, 30 years, sft 9in, 38_in; Guy Hum: phrey.lOsb 71b, 24 years, sft 7in, 36in ; Irving Stanley Hurrey, list 71b, 28 years, sft lO^in, 37in; Ernest Chas. Hurrey, list, 26 years, sft 9_in, 36in; Albert Law, list 21b, 21 years, sft 10_in, 38in; John Norman Leslie, list 101 b, 22 years, sft 10_in, 36in; James Arthur Moore, list 101 b, 21 years, sft 10_in, 36_in ; James McKinley, list 101 b, 23 years, sft llin, 36in ; Leonard O'Neill, list, 26 years, sft B_in, 36in; Ernest Albert Skeet, list 81b, 31 years, sft Bsin, : 38_in. Emergency men : Ernest Albert Guilford, 23 years, sft 7in, 37ih; Percy Walter Teesdole, 23 years, sft 9_in, 37_in. _