VOLUNTEER NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7293, 4 January 1902, Page 8

VOLUNTEER NOTES.

fCANTEKBUBT TIMES.**! It may not be generally known that Mr Walter Everard, manager of the Hawtrey Comedy Company, was at one time editor of the "Admiralty and Horse Guards Gazette." Locally matters volunteering have been very quiet during the past -week, the holidays and the absence of a number of men at the Dunedin tournament being mainly responsible. There has been no scarcity of applications for positions in the Eighth Contingent, and before long the two camps, at Wellington and Christchurch, should be in regular going order. So rapidly did volunteers come forward that 4000 applications •were sent in for the 1000 places, while for the forty-four vacancies for officers over 400 applications were sent in. It is interestdng to know that not only is the Eighth Contingent to be sent, but more men will probably also accompany it to fill vacancies in the Sixth, and Seventh Contingents. The military tournament at Dunedin passedl o ffvery Successfully. The competition was keen in all the events, and some eplendid exhibitions were given. The Wellington City Riftes are to be congratulated on the fine show they made in the rifle exercises. They have performed so well during the past few years that they well deserve the handsome cup which they have How won- outright. A meeting of the Council of the Otago Eifie Association was held recently, when the programme was drawn up for the meeting to be held on Feb. 13, 14 and 15 next. There are to be six matches, and as the officer commanding the district advised that be had arranged: for the Associatitni to be the medium through which a portion of the annual Government grant should be competed for, the meeting should be a most euccessful one. The matches .arranged will be fired the same as last year— viz., morning and afternoon— and include an Officers •Match and a Nursery Match, the latter open to any person who has never fired in. any Rifle Association competitions or /not won more than 30s during the meeting. Amongst those who have recently returned to the colony from South Africa is Captain J. Sinclairßoss, of the Scottish Horse. Captain Ross is a native of Palmerston gouth, and was engaged as a mining expert on the Rand at the time of the outbreak of Ithe war. He joined the Intelligence Department at Johannesburg in the earliest stage of the war, and had a good deal of experience. About a year ago he made a recruiting tour of Australia on behalf of the Scottish Horse, and was so successful that the authorities have now sent him to the colonies again on a similar mission. He •would like to raise 250 New Zealandera for his regiment, but is afraid that the formation of the Eighth Contingent wil dash his hopes. Still, he is looking ovi for likely men, as colonials are specially needed for the work of closingi the war during the next twelve months. Besides Captain Ross, two other •New Zealanders hold commissions in the Scottish Horse, which is largely composed of colonials. How to get ordinary rifle ranges, on this little "nine by seven" dslandi for all the clubs wMch; ihave already come into exist- ! ence (writes "i^e London correspondent of , Ithe Melbourne "Age"), fis a puzzle that j local authorities have in many cases given j tip in despair. Small enclosed! ranges are : provided for some clubs which use Morris tubes at reduced charges, but •flhese limrta- ! tions have never 'been; satisfactory. A Man- j Chester paper now s-tartes #hat ' a perfectly saife arrangement of screens .■.•has t»een in» •ventoed: fop dhort ranges, in wMchi the ordina<ry field rifle ■with a full oh|aijge v can be used. ] The tasget will be redncediifii. size accord- ; ing to the Shortness of the ; range, and prac- ' ifeoally "the equivalent of.: irehl field-firing ■ iwili be achieved 1 on 'a kind! of Jback garden \ range. A set of screens,, jwthicih are a development of the (Belgian system, will cost ebout £100. Hitherto, whenever ranges for the ordinapy rifle 'have 'been erected they have cost many itihousamds of pounds. The German papers have beem rather refci«gn<b in (regard 'to the. new shell, to which' '&c authorities at the War Oflioe ate giving their attention, and! which has just been introduced: dwto the Germain, army. It is said to be of immense importance <to the artillery in long range duels. By the introducifoa of <a cartridge composed of amorphous phosphorus into the 1 ordinary charge of smokeless powder a thick white smoke is emitted! when tSie fitell bursts, thus shbwSng the gnnners, even at the greatest distence, where the shell falls. By increasing ifae proportion of this chejnical, which does not lessen the bursting effect, it is possible to deposit ; in front of *he enemy'« position a thick 'band of white smoke, •which for many seconds iwill altogether obliterate his view of' tih^ field. The experiments in the -Gernfeii' sipny are said to nave proved highly satisfactory. Field-firing, as it has usually been carried out, can scarcely be reg^rd^.jas teaching men what sort of targets itheyV-iHll have to, fire at on service, says tKej "Times of India." Nothing more unlike actßal'ioonditions can be imagined than the rows ;6f;^ White "gurras " or canvas targets which have hitherto served as the conventional; " epiemy." But mow-a-days, not only in Continental armies but in our own, attempts are-being more generally made to teach men to.^nre at targets which resemble, more or less' accurately, the objects they will see in: the field; and the elements of ' surprise and unknown distance are added. The recent field-firing at Aldershot shows clearly enough that j there is room, for much improvement in , these practices. The targets were made as realistic as possible; movingi figures, an armoured train, a dummy public-house defended by dummy figures, mines exploding at the feet of the attacking foree — everything that ingenuity could v devise was done, and yet the percentage of hits made by one of the best shooting regiments in Aldershot was only eight. The men, of course, took a very much greater interest in the performance than ever they used to under the old system j and it is the interest of the men ■which requires arousing. In the Gold IMedal Essay of the United Service Institution of India, Colonel Ranken described an ingenious form .of itarget, representing a head and shoulders, swung so as to turn over when hit; these targets would be f marched to any point 800 to 900 yards ; from the stop butt, and each man called out in turn and directed to fire at ony one of the figures selected . . . by the officer." Such a system would probably do far more to keep up the musketry of the trained soldier than any number of the old annual 1 courses at known ranges and at utterly unreal targets. In Germany all kinds of targets are now in use, balloons representing men's heads, moving screens, and so forth. The relative value of different kinds of cover is also taught by makmg men fire at screens of timber or brick behind which are dummies. Similarly in Russia every effort H is being made to give a touch of realism to field-firing and individual musketry. Dummies on rockers are placed in entrenchments ; and when the attackers have carried the works at the point of the bayonet, they thrust at the rows of dummies as they pass. The new^Musketry Regulations for the Native Army lay down all kinds of innovations in the matter of targets and the use of entrenchments when firing, and, ihort of actual casualties among the firers, #very effort is being made to .accustom men to shoot in peace as they would certainly lave to do ia war. ■