Volunteer Gossip.

Observer, Volume X, Issue 622, 29 November 1890, Page 11

Volunteer Gossip.

By Eif. eman

— During 1 his visit to Auckland, Major Douglas will m-ipe t l:ki Permanent Force stationed at North Shore. —'• he 0 Battery bein? in want of a busier, young D >rmar of the City Guards has been pressed into the service. — Colonel Hume is in tpwn onoe again, and it is to be hoped a deputation ot officers will wait upon him in reference to the Drill .^hed. — Volunteer Dore, of the Onehunga Rifles, has not yet received his prize which he won at the last meeting 1 of the Auckland Rifle Association, Who is to blame ? — The City Guards are thinking of working up a te-im to give an exhibition of : silent drill at the forthcoming Military Sports, — The N.Z.R. A. rifle range at Napier has just been completed with the assistance of prison labour. Sureiy this is a task which might have been handed over to the unemployed volunteers, with advantage. — Colonel Shepherd has just returned from Hamilton where he has beon on a visit of inspection. The Light Infantry have been having poor parades, principally because most of the men are harvesting. — Volunteering is at a very low ebb down South, and in fact I may say throughout the colony generally. It is only with the greatest difficulty that anything like a parade can be obtained, and as a natural sequence the men are losing heart. — Charlie Taylor, the secretary of the local Rifle Association, is very backward in convening a meeting of members. It is generally believed pressure is? being brought to bear to indefinitely postpone this fixture. Those wishing to proceed South are supposed to be doing the wire pulling. — A glaring case of favouritism has been placed before me, in which political influence sweeps away all rules and regulations. Some time ago a petty officer in the Torpedo Corps committed the heinous crime 'of getting drunk, and was punished by being reduced to the rank of a third class torpedo man and payment of a fine. This, of course, was not too severe a punishment, but contrasts most unfavourably with the most recent case. Just before the last Maori expedition was despatched, a petty officer absented himself from the column detailed and wilfully broke out of the barracks. His captain referred the case to Wellington and was surprised to learn that the authorities looked upon it aa a trival case and inflicted I a nominal fine. Personally I have a great respect for the offender, but common i justice promptß me to draw attention to the two cases.