Woodville Rifles.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XVII, Issue 2946, 17 April 1899, Page 2

Woodville Rifles.

Very special interest was taken in the parade of the liifhs on Friday list, as it was announced that notonly would Colonel Pole-Peiiton b.> present, but that he would present to the Company the Sargood Cup, won for the year by it. 'The muster was about, the best there has been for a long time, there being present forty-four of all ranks, besides Col. Pole-Penton, commander of the forces in the colony, Lieut.-Col. Newall, commanding the Wellington district, aud Staff Sergt.-Major Dewar. After the Colonel had been received with the usual salute, the Company was put through various movements by the officers, and was then broken up into sections under the section commanders in order that the Colonel might have an opportunity of judging their calibre. Inspection fever was fairly prevalent. The Colonel had the officers and non-commissioned officers called to the front and addressed them. We understand he said that he had not much fault to find on the whole, the chief being one that he found all through the colony, viz., that the non-commissioned officers did not check the men for errors. This they ought to do promptly, and it was the only way in which efficiency could be secured. At the close of the drill the Company was formed in line, and the Bargood Cup was brought out, In presenting it to Captain Stevenson, the Colonel said that it had been given two years age by Mr Floss, of Messrs Sargood, Son, and Ewen, to be fired for by the different companies in New Zealand on such conditions as he (the Colonel) might see fit to lay down. At that time there had been no prize given for field firing, and so he had made the Cup a prize for such a competition. Field firing, or collective firing, was a very important thing; all our fighting firing, or nearly all of it, was in collective, or volley, firing, and although it was a very fine thing for a Comnany to have a dozen splendid shots in it, it was a very much better thing for it to be able to do well when firing together. If he were in command of a company, or connected with one, he would be prouder of that company winning this Cup than he would be of its haviDg the Championship Belt held by one of its members. The winning of the belt would only be an individual matter, but the winning of the Cup was not only a test of the shooting of the Company, but also of its fire discipline, that was of the control of its fire by the section commanders. And on the fire discipline the effectiveness of fighting fire would depend. He had very great pleasure in congratulating the Woodville Bifles on winning the Cup this year. As it was anticipated the different companies would not all be firing with the same weapons this year, it had been decided that the win would not count towards keeping the Cup, and probably the same would be the case next year. He hoped to have the pleasure of seeing the company win the Cup again and again until he handed it over to it to keep permanently as its own property. In spite of the very rough night there was a large number of spectators present in the Drill Shed. The cap is a massive silver bowl surmounted with a coronet, and standing on an ebony pedestal. It is twelve inches high and twelve inches wide over all, and has a very striking appearance.