The Daily News FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1905. RIFLE-SHOOTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7705, 6 January 1905, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1905. RIFLE-SHOOTING.

Lord Roberta' artiple in i the Nineteenth Century referred to in a recent cablegram repeats once again the Commander-in-Chief's frequently expressed opinion that in modern warfare good rifle-shooting is absolutely , essential to an effective campaign. Rut while regarding with the utmost deference the deliberate judgments of such an eminent military

authority, wo find it hard to believe that our reverses in South Africa were '''chiefly attributable to the inalwlity or the British to shoot." The story of those reverses has been told again and again byparticipants on both sides, and by intelligent onlookers' representing the armies of the world and the press of Europe, America, and the British Empire. While none of ithese have words of praise for the gwicral marksmanship of the British infantry, not one attributes the disasters that so often occurred to any t<li t; v other than blunders, weak tactics, o> misconceptions of new conditions 01 the part of British officers and th British V OIK—

ritisu ■ ai 1 <_..,ce. Wc all reraem>cr the acceptance of our colonial oilers of assistance, with its addendum of "Infantry preferred" ; and had it not been that others were wiser than those who might reasonably have been 1 expected to know most, we might have sent out contingents of practically useless because wrongly equipped men. That we did differently was not owing to the foresight or wisdom of the War Office. That British incapability to drop bullets in the right place had anything to do with the reverses at Nichofson's Nek', Colenso, or Spion Kop is am untenable (argument. Jn each case large bodies of men without cover were ordered into posii tions where they could see nothing to shoot at, and were themselves the easy target of possibly more efficient marksmen. Only in. the guerilla stage of the war do we find any serious reverse, such as that which resulted in the capture or Lord Methuen and his men, due to an open attack by the Boer forces. Here the element of surprise had more to do with the result than the British soldiers' want of marksmanship. The same may bo said of soverul other quick and lively affairs in the later stages of the war. The disasters which befell the commands of Generals Wauchope and Gatacrc were in each case duo to a blundering attack on a watchful enemy, and had every soldier in each been a champion marksman there could have been no difference in the results, * « * #

I None the less, it is impossible to | overestimate .tfc* value of high average efficiency under service conditions with the modem magazine x-j fle. It has been calculated that 0 n the battlefield it takes over a ton o£ lead to kill a man—a strangely material reflection on the training of modern infantry; Thp Boers probably shot much better than the British. They were mostly familiar with the use of firearms from their earliest years, and the canfkkucu which this gave them must have made for better shooting. It was that confidence, combined with their able adaptation of tactics to circumstances, and their skilful use of the horse, which accounted ifor most of their successes, But perfect a weapon as the rifle has become, it is possible to expect too much from it and the man who uses it. Thinking only of wonderful scores made at target practice some writers seem to regard the possibility of picking oil' a man at a thousand to two thousand yards as within the reach of any ordinarily competent marksman. This is almost wholly /ibsurd. Wind-g a uges and verniers and other nice mathematical contrivances liava no place on the field of battle, and anyone who has looked along a rifle-barrel at such a minute speck as a man's body presents at a thousand yards and upwards k;ao\vs that at such ranges a hit must ever be a "fluke." * * * *

Fqf accurate shooting at long ranges thu marksniiuj must form correct estimates of distance, windage, refraction, and "drift," and must allow also for his own personal equation. Under battlefield conditions such nice calculations arc out of the question< • For this reason except for aiming: at large masses of men half the scale on a modern rifleight is nierply surplusage. But within the limits of its certain effectiveness tha tiso of the rifle sbpuld be second nature to every ini'ajitryinan. Xoljotly will disagree with Lord I Roberts in his insistence on this. Such proficiency is the price of much practice under suitable conditions, and must cost a deal of money. But it would be better to (ire away a thousand cartridges at practice and so learn tu place one accurately in battle than to reserve the practice for the baUlelield and lire away the thousand and one with no effect at all. In Switzerland and JSaygria/ where rifle-shooting has long held thu same place among popular pastimes ;a,s foptbalJ, cricket, and betting oa' horses occupy in England and Xciv Zealand, thousands of pounds' worth of powder and ball is lirodl; away yearly by private rifle clubs alone. But nobody ,who linS witnessed the wonderful skill with the rifle which this practice promotes will for a moment contend that it represents itime and money wasted. There is no reason why the average British infantry-man should not be made a good shot, and there is almost as little reason why the citizen pl the British Empire should not use a nfty as well as the Swiss and the Boer. A ppjju/alion tile adult males of which could slio.ot and rido has within itself the milking;, iJf a formidable lighting force at any moment. In the not very long run the British Empire must come either to Uijs or to that universal and compulsory piiJitary service which Lord Itoberts roiiom/njjiuls,