VOLUNTEER NOTES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 2, 12 January 1910, Page 11

VOLUNTEER NOTES.

(By Rifleman.) The No. 1 Companv Auckland G.A.V. held thtir first parade of the year at The Drill Hall ou Friday, wbeu the election of Mr Moody as a lieuteuaut took piaee. On Friday uigbt the No. 2 Company G.A.V. went into annua’ training camp at Fort Cautley for sixteen days This is ex peeled to be the most successful camp that the company has held. This company has increased in nine months from 6u inemt»ers to 157 members. During the last few months tbe company has been working hard a: rhe gun<. It has he’d several daylight parades, and the specialists have put in a lot of extra work. At the end of the camp it expects to be well up the list in efficiency and big gun shooting. A very interesting match was fired at the Mxreretu Rifle Clubs range between 15 men of that club and 15 of tbe Otamatea Mounted Rifles. The ranges were 2<X». 500, aud 6»jO yards. The weather was fine, but there was a very strong aud unsteady wind blowing at tbe 600yds range, and consequently the scores at that range were very low. Tbe result was as follows: Mareretu Rifle Club: 200yds. 300; 500yds, 261; 600vds 195;—total, 756. Otamatea Mounted Rifles: 200yds. 255: 500yds, 248; 600yds, 186 -total, 692. Mareretu Club won by 63. At the annual meeting of the Auckland Rifle Assoc iation he’d last week it was decided that the next sbootivz meeting be held on January 2nd and 3rd. 1011. f*ome of the visiting shootists spoke highly of the manner in which the late meeting bad been run. Otfi- ers for tbe ensuing year were elected an follows: —Patrons, LieutenantColonel G <’ B- Wolfe aud the Mayor »Mr D. Grevi; vi».*e-patron. Sir J. L Campbell: president. Mr. H Brett: management council. Captain W 11. Shepherd. Captain M. N. Atkinson. Lieutenant J. F. Atkinson. Lieutenant G. T. Kretschmar. Quartermas-ter-Sergeant W. J. Mo.gan, Colour-Sergeant J. M. McKerras, and Privates W. Cox. H Pars’ow. and J. Anderson: secretary and treasurer. Captain John Potter; auditors. Captain G. J. Dormer and Lieutenant 11. C. Cottou. Auckland Rifle Association Meeting. Taken ns n whole the shooting at the Auckland Rifle Association s meeting.' wMft has just been brought to a successful conclustou, was what is known amongst marksmen as hoc," that is, tlc®e scoring and high, aud to this good ie«utt the weather, the good condition o. the targets, and tbe able management of the Executive, all conduced. Several ot the more expert shots used the newly ir,tr.>dueed aperture sights, and these, according to Captain Potter, h« .ped greauy tv pile up some of tbe large scores. That this meeting of the A*<*>«_iatlon has been excellently managed is shown by tbe high praise accorded by both, visiting and men. Lieu’. A ot tbo Danuevirke Rifles, who gained top '-•ore in the ’ eh:impknrsh:p aggregate, said to the ’’Star” representative that be found tbe Penrose range easily the best be had yet shAt in. while the enforcement of the time limit had greatly expedited business, ami. combined with the first rule marking, had helped more th»n anything to make the various competitions run smooit-y. The wind, though it had blown strongly, had teen very steady all through tbe matches, and bad uot interfered with tbe quality of rhe shooting. Capt Barltrop, of the Man Chester Rifles. Feilding. also praised the marking and the excellent management. •'The meeting.” said be. was better than any he bad attended, aud the ♦■uforecment of the time limit bad proved a good thing; there were very few challenges, and there was no time lost by competitors wailing for the wind.’’ Lieut WiHis, of rhe Taranaki Rifles, said: "I rhink those responsible for the management of the matches deserve al! praise; the targets are in splendid ‘-ouditiou, and the marking has been particularly accurate.*' "The time limit? Well, to some extent rhe time limit resented by some of the competitors from my district, but they bei*ani? accustomed to it towards the eud of the meeting, aud ackuowiedged its necessity.” Rifleman Speck, of the Stratford Defence Rifle Club, said that he had attended a meeting of the Auckland K.fle Association four years ago, and thought it well conducted, but this present meeting was in every way superior. He thought, however, that the evenness with which the matches were conducted was due rather to the *martness of the markers, than to the time limit system; unless the markers were particularly efficient, time limits were »m--possibie to fix Tbe results attained at the range* were excelleuc, but h** »•>* surprised to find that many old shooters of great ability had put up very small scores, but this he thought was due to the rifles '‘nickeling.*’ which was absolutely detrimental to go«)d booting. ” These opinions, gathered from one or two representative riflenw-n. merely serve to indicate the feeling of the company gathered at Penrose, aud to have given suet satrefaction. an«i to have earned »m*h genrrvu* praise, indicate that the Executive <>f the Auckland Rifle Arsociatkm h» orgat ising aud administrative ability in siuaU degree.