Page image

H.—lo,

10

REGULATIONS OF THE VOLUNTEER FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND RECOMMENDED BY THE BOARD OF OFFICERS ORDERED TO ASSEMBLE AND REPORT UPON EVERY BRANCH OF THE VOLUNTEER SYSTEM IN NEW ZEALAND. Eneolment. 1. Volunteer corps are raised under the Volunteer Act in force for the time being. Persons will be enrolled in Volunteer corps to serve for three years in the First Line and one year in the Second Line, and during that period will be subject to the provisions of that Act and of any Acts amending it, and to all rules and regulations which may from time to time be made for the maintenance, discipline, and training of the Volunteer Forces, by the authority of the Governor and Defence Minister. 2. Volunteers will be enrolled for the several Volunteer districts by the officer appointed for that purpose. 3. The enrolling officer, appointed by His Excellency the Governor, will enrol such able-bodied men as present themselves in the several districts for that purpose, and will have authority to put such questions and make such inquiries concerning the fitness, or otherwise, of candidates for admission into the Force as he may deem necessary, and may reject those he or the Medical Officer considers unfit for service. 4. Every person, upou enrolling himself, will furnish his address, sign an engagement to serve for three years in the First Line and for oue year in the second line, and take the oath prescribed by the Act. The oath to be administered by a Justice of the Peace, whose signature will be affixed to the attestation paper. This document, when produced in Court and the Volunteer identified as the person named therein, will be sufficient evidence, for the purpose of recovering fines, that the man has been sworn. 5. Persons of known intemperate and dissolute habits will not be admitted into the Force. 6. No person under seventeen years of age will be enrolled as a Volunteer except by special authority or in case of boys who are to be trained as musicians, who may be enrolled at twelve years of age with the sanction of the Commanding Officer, not to exceed two for each company. 7. Apprentices will not be enrolled without the consent, in writing, of their masters. 8. No person who has been discharged from the Force for misconduct, or any member of a corps which has been disbanded for the same reason, will be readmitted. 9. Enrolments will, after the first formation of the several troops, batteries, and companies, take place half-yearly, namely, in the months of January and July in each year; and persons desirous of joining the Force must submit their names to the Officer Commanding the troop, battery, or company they wish to enter, for his approval, at least thirty days previous to the period of enrolment, and must give him the following particulars : Age, height, occupation, and address. Provided that the Governor may direct an enrolment at other times if he shall see fit. 10. A Volunteer will not be allowed to resign except on account of ill-health or departure from the colony. Should a Volunteer, after enrolment, determine to reside in another part of the colony, he will be transferred to and complete his term of service with a corps of the same arm of the service in the district to which he may proceed. 11. Troops of Cavalry to consist of not less than thirty nor more than fifty men, exclusive of officers. 12. Batteries of Artillery to consist of not less than thirty nor more than fifty men, exclusive of officers. 13. Companies of Infantry to consist of not less than forty men nor more than sixty men, exclusive of officers. 14. Regiments will be formed from the several troops, batteries, and companies of the Volunteer Force, as follow: —