Volunteer and Rifle Notes

Southland Times, Issue 19115, 4 August 1903, Page 4

Volunteer and Rifle Notes

BY " VERNIER./' I understand the Mercantile Rifles have taken' a rooon and intend to make on . early start with bayonet -exercise, etc., "lor Dunedin tournament. This corps gave an exceedingly creditable performance last year, and with the same consistent' practice should be v©rv hard i to beat. *-■.'■ ■■* . ■• . ■- ' The mounted men have fietm keeping very quiet lately both in shooting and otherwise, but I hope to be ' able to chronicle some of their doings shortly. The Southland Rifle club's championship was decided on Wednesday, i.9th, with 7 shots at 800 yards, the winner ' turning up in H. Morrison, one of the youngest shots in the club, who is to be congratulated 01* his achievement. The aggregates to the last range were very j, close, but here one or two collapses occurred and left the men with fair averages throughout, in the running. A. : Campbell .._ was top at this range with _ 27, which brought him in line with Morrison, but in the shoot off the latter scored ■ the major points. The leading aggregates were as under : — SOO 500 000 — OO SOO t.l. "3ET, Morrison £3 U4 22 Q4 124 A. Campbell 2<\ 25 25 21 2? 124 H. Hay 29 25 24 17 IS 113 T. Boyce 31 23 25 20 9 108 A. R. 'Wills 31 27 22 ils 2 107 CHAMPIONSHIP 1902. 200 300 500 'K)0 700 tl. , A. R. Wills 24 29 3-1 31 30 148 Dr aracknight 22 30 28 32 28140 . S.-M. Knee 25 28 32 28 2tS 139 The cadet corps of Otago and South-' land are to be formed into one battal-) ion. At present there are eleven corps' in existence, and at an early date will add at least another to its number. Following a re the corps interested un<l the dates on which they formed :—Waitaki High School Naval Artillery Cadets; June 30th, 1884 ; Dunedin High School Cadetd, April 10th, 1880; lnvercargill High School Cadets, March j.3th. 1SV)(> ; Dunedin Engineers' Cadets, March !>th, 1901 ; Port Chalmers Naval Cadets, Aug' ust 27th, 1901 ; Caversham liille Cadets; October 22nd, 1901 : Mntaura Boys' Brigade, December 12th, .1 i)UI ; Wuikarui Rifle Cadets, March 7th, 1902 ; Dunedin High School Cadets, No. 2 Company; March 17th, 1903 ; Oamaru Kifle Cadets, July Bth, 1903 j lnvercargill Ride Cadets, July, 1903. It is understood that Capt.-Adj. Hislop, of No. 1 Battalion^ 0.11. V., is to take, command o f the Cadet Battalion, and -will be supported by . Oapt.-Ad't HiCOlSon and Wcut. JRryr done. The Punedin corps haive made a start with practice • for forthcoming military tournaments at Dunedin and Wellington, and, it behoves the local corps to ge\ going as early as possible in crder to retain the honours gained last- year. 1 understand , that several of the local corps anticipate sending teams to botU Dunedin and Wellington. This would be a splendid outing, and should well re; coup ■■' the energy and time upeiit tn be* coming efficient. . ': At present the strength of school' cadet corps in the colony is tlose on 10,000. The Government Rave decided that the -whole should be clothed in a similar uniform — darkf blue, with Glengarry cap.. :Yo]unteer corps in Christchurch are just, now at a great disadvantage through the delay in re-instating Uie Drill HaU recently destroyed l.y nrcl Companies at present have to content themselves with falling, in and marching through the streets ; the nights -beingbo dark, -it is almost impossible to go . in. for detail work. - ■ -. ■ Capt. Oldershaw.. of the Australian team now at JMsiey, - replying to congratulations on.- winning the Kolaporo Cup, stated that Australia- mast again Hefend the Cup next year. The Australians in this match constifcuU*! » .toulilo record, their score of 771 beiug v record for the Cup, and Bradley's 102 is the record made in any team mutch shot at Bisley. A"' full muster of the Awaru.i liiiles was on Parade last week, when a start was made with the .new drili. This company has been working at a disadvantage for so c time, not i.avirg a -full complement of ofUcers, but They made a start with remedying this defect on Friday night by electing Battalion Sergt .-Major Flaus as- captain of the '■■'" corps. Sergt.-Major Flaus has had a wide and varied experience in volunteering, and should be able to enter his new sphere with confidence* He will no doubt prove himself as efficient a a olficer as he was a sergt.-major. Mr Arthur Reid, of the N.Z. Band (says "Bullseyo" in Press), who vaa chosen as sideniruminer out of 28 applicants at Wellington, has *>een presented by Besson &r Coy., instrument makers, with a side-drum made to his own order and "suitably inscribed. Should her trials prove satisfactory, HMS Eurya^us, now nearing completion, will replace H.M.S. Royal Arthur as flagship of the Australian squadrom The Euryalus has a displacement ot 12,000 tons and a speed pf 21 Knots per hour. Her dimensions vare : length 44Oft, breadth 69ft 6in. draught 20ft Sin. The armajnent will consist of two 9.2 inch guns, twelve Oin brcecht loading guns, fourteen 12-pounder quick firing guns, three' 3-poundcrst and eight machine guns. Total cost oi construction will bo £804,259. - The final' stage— 7 shots at for E.l*, pickle jar, was fired by Oreei Rifles on Wednesday, when several very fair scores wore recorded. Lieut. Johnston and Corpl. Cockroft each 29; thti former's 29 being Southland's record to date at this ramge. Corpl. Cocliroft wins the trophy with a very consistent shoot, averaging 4.1 per shot. Highest scores in competition were : — ■'■■•-■ 500 GOO 800 h'cap tl. Corpl. Cockroft 33 22 20 10 9G - Sergt. Lyall 28 27 20 « Si Lieut. .Roach - 3tt 22 24 — 7G L-Cpl. Lee 30 28 12 0 70 Sergt. Boyce 30 27 i> S 74 Priv.lr.win 12 24 22 14 72 Lieut. Johnston 24 18 29 -*~ 71 In comparing this year's chatnpionship scores with those of previous year, a considerable falling-off in the shooting is apparently evident. This year an average of 3.5 per shot wins, while am average of 4.2 was necessary to secure last year's honours. No doubt this is accounted for to a certain extent by the Bize oi "bull" and rings being much smaller than ' those used in ..ast championship, a-lso, 300 yards is eliminated and replaced by 800 yards. The Mercantile Kifles parade for inspection by JUeut.-Col. Henderson on Thursday, Gth inst, at 8 p.m. Witt) this visit the O.C. 2nd Battalion will have- completed a minute inspection of each corps in his command ., At all of them large parades were not general, but a very healthy ton© seems to exifei. which points to a steady revival m volunteer matters at no. distant date. A free issue to infantry corps iroiu headquarters, Wellington, of volumes of the new Infantry Manual has just been made, and will doubtless be received with much satisfaction. A manual on signalling has also been issued. This contains particulars o the Morso, semaphore, heliograph a»d several other systems in use in. the British army, with explanations necessary to ensure proficiency in this very useful branch of the service. Our two senior corps are, I think, the only ones to maie a move locally towards "flag-wag-gin"-," and although the Guards have aot lately given it much attention, the Oreti squad, under Sergt. Boyce and Corpl. Cockroft, seemingly intend to annex the badges and bonus* t>Hered to those passing the prescribed examination. - "While on the subject of books, it is expected that the new drill manual for mounted corps will bo issued during the present month. An Defence Cadet Corps are short) i to be supplied with Lee-EnfiCld carbines, and will then return to store the snider arms at present in their possession. In his desire to keep a live and healthy smrit existent in his command, Lieut.Col. Henderson has devised a new system which should have a good effect in increasing the parade Strength of the town corps, although it cannot be applied to the country ones quite so well. It is to cause the corresponding section of each corps to parade as one company, on each drill night m turn, and , it will tie strange. if the wish to be well represented and to do well, should not bl a good thing for a tf concerned. Fol- -. low to/" are the particulars a^ectmg e^cb section :— Wo. 1 sections ofA.lt, C, ana E company to parade at 8 p.m. sharp Si Toth -4.ugust H ; > No. -2 Section do do 11th Aue •-""So. : 3 sections do do 14th AtS • fro 4 sections do do 20th Aug. Thf col-sergeants; to ori their own parade night, with .battalion sergt.-Major m charge each evening.