WANGANUI.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 2000, 24 December 1863, Page 2

WANGANUI.

I [feom our own corbespondssnt.] On Monday last, Colonel Logan inspected the Volunteers and Militia. The weather looked rather threatening in the morning, but luckily kept fine till night. The Companies present were the Victoria R. V., Capt, Porter; Prince of Wales, R. V., Capt. Roberts ; Caledonian Rangers, R. V, Capt. Allison, and Captain Dune's Company of Militia, No. 1 district — in all, mustering about 240 bayonets. As the Militia Com* pany was of double the strength of any other on the ground — owing to the fact of the : old No. I.Company R. V. 'preferring to Berve in the Militia, rather than volunteer' again under Major Rookes, after the vaccillating and ultra-mean treatment they had received at his hands — it was divided into two separata Companies for the purposes of, parade. As there is no lack of officers without companies, it was not difficult to officer it. The whole assembled on the market place, and were formed in open column right in front — Volunteers on the right as a matter of course, Militia on the left. Headed by the military band they marched through, the town on to the parade ground, Tylee's flatformed in open column as before,, and wheeled into fine ready for inspection. The Colonel, who rode on to the ground, accompanied by Major Hassard, HTM. 57th, Doctor Gibson, W. M., and Ensign Hewett*

W. M., (who, I suppose, acted as aide-dc camp) was received with, customary honors The Battalion then inarched past three times were put through the manual and platooi exercises, after which followed various bai talion formations and movements, finishin with a modicum, of skirmishing. At the close line was again formed and advanced to th general salute. The outer Companies thei wheeled inwards, forming three sides of ; square and the Colonel addressed them :— Volunteers and' Militia, — I am very mud pleased to see such a good muster I am aware that a great numbe of you have many miles to come and I thank you for your attendai to-day. You have gone through the variou evolutions in a very creditable manner. I is not to be expected that you should do a well as the regulars, but your skirmishinj was well done, your advancing in line wa good, your retiring line was very well done better than I have seen many regiments ii the service do it. I shall have to make i report of this day's proceedings to Genera Cameron, who, as an old soldier, will hi highly gratified with it. I cannot but con gratulate your commander upon having sucl a fine body of men under him, and shoul< we ever be called upon to tackle the Maories here, I shall only be too proud to have yoi alongside the old 57th ! ! ! The Battalion then gave three heartj cheeisfor the Colonel, and marched bad through tire town to the market place wher« they were dismissed. So much for the forma account of the proceedings ; and now I havt a few short remark's to make, which, I arx sorry to say, are too pertinent. To us, the Colonel's speech was like an oasis to the weary traveller in the parched uj desert. It is the only encouragement we have had for months, and I can assure you the contrast between it and the language oi the officer commanding, was rather marked ; for the latter would first call one Company a set of " damned lazy devils," and then politely ask another " where the h — ll are you going to " ; to which, however, the Wanganui Volunteers are now quite accustomed, There will certainly be cases of mutiny on some such occasion, if things are not very materially altered. And there are many in the ranks, infinitely his superior, who will not be able to keep their temper, for we can all imagine how galling it must be to a man, who, after doing his best, receives nothing in return but growls, intermixed with a few not very refined oaths. I have no doubt the Major would have liked to have heard three cheers for himself, but had any one had the temerity to propose them, I am positive that he would have met with no response, except of the wrong sort. There is, unfortnnately, a wide breach between the Major and the Volunteers, either they do not understand him, or, which is the more probable, he does and will not understand them. lam glad to see that our member, Mt Harrison, has moved for the correspondence between the Government and the Major, concerning the disbandment of Volunteer companies under 40 — for our Major disbanded one Company here, who were a few short oi that number ; when at the same time he had a Militia Company partly in the same district, that only mustered six, inclusive of officers. At present' the sanie consists of " one private " and two commissioned officers. They were on pay, but whether the farce is still carried on or not I can't say. I suppose, however, that we must put up with it, for if we complain about these inconsistencies we are told, that if we do not like to serve as Volunteers, he will force us into the Militia. I have omitted two things concerning the parade, which I intended mentioning, namely, the only thing that marred the appearance of the Battalion in line, was the dark undress oi the Caledonians, who evidently preferred coming rough and ready for action, instead of appearing in colonial uniform similar to all the rest, namely, blue smocks and white trousers. Secondly, — We could not helpnoticing the badges of the Prince of Wales it.V., which reflect great credit on Mr Marriott for the neatness of execution, considering the want of proper appliances in the colony for making such things. The other day, I noticed a paragraph in your columns whtch stated, "that Militia officers had been drawing their pay daily as if on active service, but that now they were only to be paid for every day they drilled, the same as the ranks ; at which they are much dissatisfied, as they think they ought to get some remuneration for the expense they had been put to." Really this is coming it rather strong. Had the Militia commissions been given to men who were most deserving of them — some would naturally have fallen to the lot of those who might not have boen able to bear any expense ; but showered, (as they have been) indiscriminately among the self-constituted aristocracy, without any respect to qualification, I very naturally think they ought to be content with the honor, without stooping to growl about the " filthy - lucre." Were the generality of Militia officers men whom we would like to follow and for whom we might have some ; respect, the case might wear a more favorable < aspect. In conclusion, — Is the Government giving us the paltry pay now, in order tc evade the more reasonable obligation of giving us some of the confiscated land at a future period.