VOLUNTEER NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7417, 31 May 1902, Page 6

VOLUNTEER NOTES.

..- ' '» . ■ '.' ■■- ■■■■ •■',•■■■■■- •-,■•' ("Canterbury Tuibs.") A- rifle-shooting meeting is to be held - at Trentham on June \] 3 . for a said of £49 Ss, given- ibyißi^ Government for, the encouragement of marksmanship in Wellington city, '-j Conditions and regulations have just been ■ issued: by lieutenantColonel Collins for the conduct of the meeting. Two matches have been arranged for. One will be fired under ordinary conditions ; the second one will be 1 "at" "dis- ;:. appearing head-and-shoulder target, match?' Lord Warwick, presiding at a smoking concert held in connection watb the. Essex Imperial Yeomanry at Colchester, mentioned as an instance of the spirit animating all classes that his son, thinking 'that'permission might not be forthcoming, sold his' guns and a fur coat, in order to raise funds for his passage to South Africa. The reference is to Lord Brooke, the earl's eldest son. He was at Eton, preparing forth© Military College at Sandhurst, .when, the , war broke out. His entreaties' to be allowed to volunteer were refused on - th# ground^ his youth, and- because he •was, with the exception of. a tworyear-old brother the only son. When he could restrain his impatience no; longer, he ran. away from school, sold his, fur coat,, scarfpin, and gura, in London, .and with, the proceeds bought a . secohd-clafis ticket: for the Cape. Pleased with- the spirit he had displayed, his parents- made no attempt to bring 'him back, but took steps to have him attached to General French's staff. So well dad he acquit himself that at the end of 1900, when he had been a year at thefront, he was given a, commission, in the Household Cavalry, and is now secondlieutenant in- the Ist Life Guards, and extra A.D.C. to Lord Milner, though. sfilTonly in his twentieth year. \ The Canadian Minister of Militia recently made a most important announcement- regarding proposals for increasing the efficiency of the Canadian Militia. The present Militia force consists, of 35,000 men, and it was proposed, Mr IJorden stated, to increase it to at least 100,000 men well trained in the use of the rifle. A contract,'he continued, had been entered into with a company to manufacture the Ross rifle in Canada. Ah Army Medical Corps had been established which the Mincer had no hestitation in saying was toe best in the world, as had been shown by recent experience in South Africa. .Plans were bein contemplated for an increase in the staff and the establishment of an Army Service Corps. The number, of office* would be increased and the educational standard raised. When these plan*; ;were carried out, as they shortly wpuld.be, Canada \would have a large effective^ force of young men well equipped, expert aa the use of the rifle, capable of dealing fc^«JT trouble at home, and, with, tfce help <*,t&e Mother Country, able successfully to. wi«i- . stand any foreign invasion. „V/ The little village of Bisley, so well knowa , ' in, the military world, claims the prpnd qwtinction of having created a patriotic reoor4 . during the present war, having sent a father and his four sons to the front The name 'of this patriotic family is Payne, the vfaw^T being a lieutenant and quartermaster in. the Metropolitaa Mounted Rifles. - -,: ■ I Details of the military scheme thatit is ■ expected will be submitted by Mr Brodriok for discussion at the meeting of the-GolfcßiW ,' Premiers in London, are only known -iota* . few, and the greatest care is being taken te preserve the seorecy of the proposal; From what can be gathered, Great Britain and. Ireland will produce and equip corps, three of which, representing ISjM*? 0 men, will be prepared 1 to take the field -m . defence of the colonies or against any-Euro-pean Power. India is to provide ajuanny corps, Australia two, New Zealand «nte(;M«" Canada, four. All the army corps will be provided with the latest pattern of artillery armament. The scheme provi&s for . ,4fce largest army in the world, and, -i>»jf"j& probably the most efficient. Some^-tns. crack regiments will tour in' Canada, Australia, New Zea3a»d",aad Sooth Afnbat Men will be free to join any branch of $he-*nnT in any part of the British colonies, and will be sent at the public expense to. join wfcea opportunity occurs. t . ■- - The Engineers may be compared fa tti« stage hands "behind, say* a Home writer. They contribute to the success of the campaign as the stage hands do to that of the play but neither generally receive the recognition due to them for thek labour. An army without its Engineers wbuia be practically lost, for in these days of railways, forts, entrenchments, blockhouses and bridges, the Engineers are often called upon to lay a way for thearmy^and then to take measures to secure the country it conquers. The Engineers get no advertisement until they blunder. On the other hand, it has too often been the case that the ordinary field force has been glorified for merely doing its duty. At the annual dinner of the Institution of Civil Engineers in London last month General Sir Richard i Harrison paid a tribute to the work oitfet

Engineers in South Africa^. The people c faxe* country, he iaid, had never thorough Appreciated the extent -to which, railways, jlad bees used, and the absolute necessity that they were in a war such as the South African. No amount of animal transport, if there were not one Remount Department, but twenty Remount Departments, spending twefity 'times the money that one had spent, Would hate taken, an army into the Orange fcv«r\ Colony or intd tie Transvaal if there sad not beett a. railway to h*lp them. Drunkenness is the worst attribute of jrregula* soldiering upon _ye. shillings, a day fe&yi a writer in " Blackwood's Magazine"). If the colonial has money he will drink. Where, the average white num. greets a friend and acquaintance with a handshake, the South African colonial Calk him to the nearest bar; and they dritik their salutation. When, half a dozen colonial corps "off the ■faek M Bij&et M » wayside tpwnihip, they ttini.it ifito an i&fefno. Here they were crowding in and out of the houses in drtuiken Hilarity. The townsfolk, delighted at their opportune arrival when Brand Wai at their gates, ply them with the spurious spirit which passes for whisky in fioutb Africa. H the . spirit is ihere, no •mounb of military precaution will prevent -the colonial /trouper front securing it. You cannot place whole regiments-r-ofiicers and ffien alike^inidetf _xreSt» And When a colo_ialr*gim*nt is "going large," in the majority^ cases it would baffle any but an .expert to distinguish officer from man. And •while young men in smasher hats fall over mth a%«f in the streets, the sober British troops look stolidly .on and wonder, flome, it jatrne, faU.aw&y with Iheiioteaa.