DEFENCE NOTES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144853, 3 December 1915, Page 7

DEFENCE NOTES.

(By "Scout.”) The programme ol the twelfth annual nit-otiiig ol tne T.itaniißi Ritle Association is to hand. Tiio mooting is to he Held at lie* Hewn Rewa range on Ketinmiy 3 and 1 nest.. There are twelve, matches: (1) Kaponga, 800 ami oil; yards; (i’i Inglewood. oeHi and 'MI yauis; (Mi thirca. t, r 1 and 8011 yards; (4) Btnulo’il. COO and IDliO yards; (5) New l-iymouih. B;rJ and 1000 yards. There are ol prizes m each maieli, 10 of which are for tyros, Tncre are her aggie- | gates— t.'ic grand aggregate (with nine prizes, the first of tvmch is tho champion holt, gold medal and i’3). the snort ir. aggiegaio (of six prizes), tile long range aginegate (of six prizes), a tyro agg. egate fur u.:; idles I and 5. and a tym aggiegate mr the 50 1 yards range ,ti;e prize m each maieli being a silver medal, donated by Mr. Slaughter and -Major .Slumlord i especlively). The two other matches are tho Last Try (dependent on tin. l number of entries) and tile Companies’ Teane; Match. The winners of tile Teams Ala tell, in addition to the money prize, will hold tiio Tisch Memorial Challenge Cup for one year, file entries close With the secretary, Air. F, J. Hill, on January 20. The programme for the Area Group meeting to he held on January 3 next is. not yet to hand; presumably it will bo very similar to that of n year ago. Tho plant on the riilo range is to bo attended to almost at once, so that everything will be in good order for the meetings. The recent storms and wind have wrecked the danger signal staff and many of the number boards, and tho telephone is out of commission owing to u break in the line; but everything can be soon made right. A local Territorial drew my attention —or thought he had—to Captain Wallingford's scheme of musketry training, ns published in your Monday night's issue, and asked mo to make some comments on it in my next notes. With part of tho scheme everyone should be in complete sympathy, and every cadet should ho encouraged to learn to shoot. Unfortunately, shooting in most cadet companies—or tcrirtorials, for that matter—is an unknown art. How little encouragement is given by tho Defence Department has only been too clearly shown by your appeal lately on behalfof tho High School Cadets. One can hardly swallow the fact that Now Zealand spends Ids per annum on cadets' ammunition, it must mean 12s per head per annum. Who fixes Taranaki’s share;' A little further on we are told, ■‘Of course there is no doubt about Auckland having the best cadet shots in New Zealand.” There is considerable doubt, Captain Wallingford notwithstanding. It may not be generally known, hut the New Plymouth High School Cadets are about top of the tree for the Dominion. Here are sonic facts —not mere opinions—to prove it. In tho Schools ol tiio Empire Competition for 1913 Charterhouse (England) was first and Now Plymouth High School second. In 1914, the same competition was won by Wellingborough (England), with a score of 490; Eton was second and Repton third, also with 490 each; Auckland Grammar School was sixth, with a score of 478. New Plymouth High School made a scoro of 524, but were disqualified because tho match was supervised by only one commissioned oflicev and a stalf sergeant-major, instead of two commissioned officers. The individual scores wore allowed. Tho first ton for all tho schools competing wore:—

In tho Imperial Challenge Shield (senior), referred to by Captain Wallingford, the last results are; New Plymouth High School 10th (average 85.1), Christchurch Boys’ High School lltn, Auckland Grammar School 6-1 th, and King’s College 81st. In tho junior competition the New Plymouth High School were 9th, the Auckland Grammar School 70th, and the Auckland Senior Cadets' 88th, So much for Auckland cadet shooting. Just ono other point before passing from tho cadets —from tho article it would appear that tJio Auckland cadets have a free rango where “any boy could come up between 12 noon and 6 p.m. and fire ten rounds free.” Does any such privilege obtain in New Plymouth ?

200 500 Tl. 1. Corp. G. do L. Parry, Repton School 34 34 68 0 Pvt. H. L. huoona, Now Plymouth High School S3 35 67 3. Sergt. A. Sutherland, New Plymouth High School 33 34 67 4, Pvt. L. I). Russell, Wellington College (Berks.) 33 34 67 5. Sergt. T. B. Kelly, Now Plymouth High School 31 35 66 6. Pvt. 0. Yates, Now Plymouth High School 31 So 66 '* Pvt. E. W., Martin, New Plymouth High 32* 34 66 8. Pvt. C. R. Failcs, WellincU'roufih School 32 34 66 9. Scrgr. C. J. Hamhlyn, New Plymouth High School 33 33 66 10. Pvt. S. Humphries, Urosham’s School ... 34 32 66