EASTER MANOEUVRES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 11249, 14 April 1908, Page 5

EASTER MANOEUVRES.

AMENDED EMBARKATION

ORDERS,

:,To-morrow afternoon the local volunteer contingent, about 100 men, will prpjeeed under military orders to participate ■ in the first general Easter volunteering manoeuvres lield simultaneously qh. active. service conditions throughout i,the YDominionY The proposal has been ..entered into enthusiastically by tlie local : yoiunteers, and on the whole employers '.haye.met their men generously, although .^luiiortunately a littie red-tapeism has • been .exercised in respect to several civil .servants. The East Coast Mounted ... Rifles will probably be represented by /about 40 men, and the Gisborne Rifles ! and senior members of tlie Defence Cadets by 58 men. , ; Elmbarkati on orders .have beenamend- • ed at, the last moment, and the contingent will have to embark at 4.30 instead of in the evening- as previously arranged. .Late last evening Captain Beere received the following message -from the Chief Staff Officer, Captain Sahdtmann : "Please alter your orders for embarkation; captain' of Toroa states his steamer must,, leave. Gisborne at 4.30 Wednesday afternoon to suit tide;" The orders have been accordingly amended, and the men will embark in the afternoon. -.The' Toroa will be detained for a couple of hours in the Bay, where she will be. tendered at 6.15, the Chairman of the Harbor Board (Mr J. Townley) having kindly placed the Board's launch at the disposal of the volunteers for the transference of a limited number only to the ship at that hour. Of the local volunteering officers invited to attend the manoeuvres and officiate on the umpire staff it is understood only Lieut. Lewis . has beiJn able to accept the invitation. Captain Beere -has issued further orders respecting the command of the Gisborne Rifles, wliich will be officered as follows :-— Right half company, Lieut. Coleman; left half, Acting-Lieut. SomerY veil; section 1 will be in charge of Sergt. Rait, section 2 Sergt. J. Somervell, section 3 Sergt. Breingan, and section 4 Sergt. Taylor. Lance Corporal McGuffie has, for the purposes of the camp, been promoted to the rank of corporal. Other necessary appointments will be announced after embarkation.

An almost full muster of the Gisborne Rifles was held last evening, when camp equipment was served out. Special instructions were given in the matter of embarkation. The East Coast Mounted Rifles, which are designated in the manoeuvres as the A. section of the 4th Regiment, Wellington Mounted Rifles, will be represented by three officers and 40 men, and will he in charge of Captain Tombleson. The officers are as follows : No. 1 troop, in charge of Lieut. C. H. Evans*; No. 2 troop, Lieut. Hamilton. The squadron sergeant-major is Sergeant -Major Spragg ; quartermaster sergeant, QuartermasterSergeant Zachariah; troop sergeant No. 1, Sergeant Poynter; No. 2, Sergeant Fairlie. The East Coast Mounted Rifles are notified that the mounted parade will be held at the drillshed at 1 p.m. to-mor-row, instead of 2 p.m.. when the ein•barking of the horses will be at once proceeded with. The marching orders which have been issued for this secKon details that the horses are to be entrained at Napiei* at 1 p.m. on Thursday aboard a special horse train leaving for the front at 5 p.m., and conveying sufficient men to attend to the hors'es. The troop train will be despatched from Napier at 7.20 p.m. Arriving at Ngahauranga about daylight next morning, the volunteers proceed to headquarters at Johnsonville, necessitating a march of five miles.