THE VOLUNTEERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4576, 22 February 1893, Page 4

THE VOLUNTEERS.

COLONEL FOX'S REPORT. j A FORECAST. ••! [FROM OtJB SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] ! WELLINGTON, Feb. 21. Colonel Fos'a report was alluded to by the Defence Minister at the banquet to the rifle champion as a thing not to make public just then, at which there was laughter from the gue3ts — ironic but'good tempered.* They were all volunteers, and were keen to know what the new man had said and proposed. We shall no doubt know before long, when the Governor— to i whom, I presume, the report is addressed j — returns here and receives the document. In the meantime we may forecast some of the points for ourselves. For instance, remarks made in public by Colonel Fox at i his various inspections prepare me for some very strong expressions of condemnation, I and for none of a very laudatory character. J Add that Mr Seddon, who has seen the j report, eaid at this banquet last night, that ; "the volunteers have gone back," and you I may expect something warm about nonefficiency. As to organisation, it has been already said in print all over the Coiony that the Colonel had made up his mind to ' advise the diabandment of all the country j corps, with a view to the concentration of ■ the money voted on the corps at the larger I centres, which meant that the Colonel had : realised that he had got into an economical ' country, and remembered tbe old military maxim of the East India Company, " Economy is the life of the army/ We know what the politicians will say about the country corps, and we know also that Colonel Fox is not a politician. I have never heard any contradiction of tbe j printed report, therefore I hold that so far j as the report is concerned, the country ! corps are doomed. But as the Colonel is a practical man who is /sure to value the excellence of the trained material of which these corps are composed, I should not be surprised to learn thbt he has recom- ! mended some modification of the Rifle Club system in their regard. Something of the same kind has several times been recommended before. Coming to the question of the officers, it is notorious that the officers commanding districts cannot personally inspect all the corps for which they are responsible. Men who know the Colonel + .o be a practical, observant soldier, have predicted, therefore, that he would point; out in his report that these officers are overworked. I scarcely Bee how he can escape saying so, especially if he has said anything about bringing Rifle Clubs into the organisation. As to the Company officers, it is generally admitted that the system of selection by tbe Companies has not proved successful by any means, and that it is a system which is detested cordially by all army authorities and military opinion everywhere no one need be reminded. I think, therefore, that the report will recommend the abolition of the selection system, and judging from what has fallen from the Colonel himself at parades, aB reported in the newspapers, the report, I fancy,, will have something warm $o say about the ineffectiveness of the present syßtem of examination and the necessity for quickly adopting a better* which will be outlined; I feel Bure. On all such points we may expect from Colonel Fox the product of the latest information and the very best judgment. This part of the report; will, I am certain, be found an admirable educator of public opinion. What, it is often asked, will be the basis of organisation, the company or the battalion P We are all aware of a movement among European military authorities to rely chiefly on the company, but that is scouted by the best men, and the bulk of military opinion, founded on common sense and experience, favours the battalion. I, therefore, look to Bee the battalionformationrecbmmendeddecidedly, in spite of the advantages claimed for the company system. As Colonel Fox is one of those men who never does anything by halves, I shall not be surprised to see the battalion commanders named in his report. You remember, doubtless?, that some months ago it was freely rumoured about that a certain most competent and most popular officer in your district had been indicated as tho commander of the future North Canterbury battalion. Seeing no reason to doubt s thafc report, I draw the inference that all the battalions have been similarly treated. Now as to arms. Mr Seddon, at the banquet on Saturday, Bpeaking of the earnest desire of the Government to spend as much as possible on the volunteers, said, "The first money that could be expended would be expended in the purchase of a modern arm, so that the volunteers shall be in the same position as many of the Eifle Clubs are in." Here we have evidence that an earnest recommendation has been made in the report to get rid of the. obsolete Snider as quickly as possible, and that the Minister for Defence Bees his way to adopt that recommendation. The allusion to the Eifle Clubs settles tbe question of the new arm. These Eifle Clubs are armed with the Martini-Henry. Let us examine the matter a little. The new magazine rifle has a very great range, and the average rapidity of magazine fire is not greater (hardly appreciable) than the average rapidity of the Martini-Henry. Now, in this country, as I have often heard soldiers declare who have travelled over most of it (General Edwards, whom I had the honour of interviewing for the Lyttelton Times, was one), there is very little ground whete you can see to hifc anything at over 600 yds to 1000 yds. "Moreover," they add, " your troops, being untrained, and never likely to be as fully trained as troops ought to be that are trusted with magazine arms, the Martini-Henry ia good enough for them, and for all the purposes they will ever require. The MartiniHenry 18 as rapid (nearly) aB the magazine, and a straight shooter as well as a hard hitter, with a simple mechanism. The weapon is the very weapon for the citizen army of a country like New Zealand." That was the opinion of General Edwards. It is tbe opinion of several officers of the army and navy I have met of late years. I think it id the opinion of Colonel Fox, because the Minister for Defence, who has received and read the ropcrfc (as I happen to know), has said that: he intends to spend all his available money in buying a new arm to place tbe Volunteers on the same footing as the Eifla Clubs, who ate armed with fche Martini-Henry.,