VOLUNTEER & DEFENCE NOTES

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 33, 8 February 1905, Page 6

VOLUNTEER & DEFENCE NOTES

I BY hUFLIDjIAXj ; 'the non-coms, of the No. S Ccmjany of j Garrison Ai'lilLiry whi entertain tne gunI neis of their company .it a smoke concert | Ui camp to-morrow night, The A&arana Uiile Club was well represented at the nu-roa meeting last week, ai.u ail succeeded in carrying oQ' a good l share of tne prize money oifcred. Owing to the instructors of the Permanent sstuff beiug ful.y engaged, the Coast- ; guards are hoiiiLu t , iniautiy drills at tne JDml Shed on tne atn and loth of thin month. Some good mrusceis are reported in the Domain Camp, xae ICoUege ltiiles are parading the strongest, with ss> men: whi'e the Kewtous and tne No. 2 Natives are also well represented. Owing to the inclement state of the weather wichin the lust few days the infancy have dove comparatively little work until last night. Sei;,<ia_t-Major Carpenter hud toe uieii out iastru.tUig them in the difierent branches of tueir work until about I _. is ».m. I At about 8.10 on Tuesday night, when j the men of the fattadou were preparing j lor bed, the bc t .!e sounded the alarm. The Unierent compa-j-.s cere reported "ready j tor action" i.i i U i.r i.r live udnutes from : v.neu tue alarm Sounded. Lieut.-Colonel v»ujte compliment. _ mc men for their smaitutss in t_r_t:._ cut. .>, Ac .. Lhe * n '~' i tst;c_i of the College Rifles the "'A Lattery ...... attend a smoke concert at t£ui!- (_..:..;; io-.u/j. row i inursd..y.i evening. Tain is .... r...: L ai lixture, a similar ea terrains - i._viu a given by lue two cumpaiiifi ia Lu.-u every year since mc lormat.on ut ~.'. i. ttiucrs vi l.jyi. j he BattLry wi.i ; .-.r..,:■■ at 3 p.m. sha.p, ;.nd then march tc tee camp. A sweepstake n-.at-.h will be fired on the Akarana iliiie Cl'-c's :•;. :.ge at Penrose on fcaturauy arteruot • > next, whilst a target will aiso be tv ai.ia.uk: tor memliers who wish to Indulge hi piuctlce at tne longer la::i'ea. Last fc'-atu.-.ui.. i-.ternoon the Ji.U yatds range v,-_s lo.uiull.v opened by the captain. Some eit.v.iciit shooting was done by the large nomb'. r of members present. The College Rilicj entertain°cl a number of their t.-iet;ds ■ ..■ Sui-dav nfrprnoou last at the liomaii: Car.iv. Arternoou tea was rtispeused in the ..i ..,;■■.-._. a luipe marquee by the member:-, a--.i.-.i.-, by a number of young v ladies. Mrs .:. M. Shu-a was responsible for tic ;..::• no -orations, which were most preiiiiy ;•;.;'; eileclively carried out In blue aud i-hiu. the company's colours. Lieut. W. Rollc (J lilesple. Sergeants H. J. Wright St. Cl.itr. .'.. .\ Kay, and R. A. Mci-lunuu. or the I i .;,.:>• Rides, are to be congratulated on tli.tr success iv passing the examination h- »d under the auspices of Uic- Military School vi instruction a'l Hamilton in September of last year. Among the officers who presented themselves, Mr Gillespie came cjul . .-. .uid. Sergeant St. Clair occupying a aimilar place among A.C.O.'s.—(Huntly Correspondent-) The Auckland En&lr.eeis, who went into camp at Fort Takapuaa on Thursday evening last, for sixteen days' training, are putting in some ieiy useful work in the different branches m engineering, viz , bridge building, signalling, held engineering, and electrical work. The field engineering section have been doing entrenchments, etc.; the signalling section have been using tho lime lamps at night, and the heliogiaph and Cags iv the day, whereby messages are sent to Fort Cautiey while the electrical section have put up some telephones, etc. As the work is very interesting, and there is a very fair muster In camp, some useful instruction should result. On Sunday morning last the company held a church parade, and in the afternoon they had the Garrison Band in attendance, when a good many friends of members of the company were present. Next Sunday, however, the company will be "Alt Home" to friends and others, when afternoon tea_wil! be provided by members of the company; and as a line of 'buses have been arranged to ran to the camp, the Engineers expect to see ail their fiiends. to whom a hearty welcome is extended. "TWO-EYED" SHOOTING. The British War Office intend, during next year's musketry season, to ulopt, or ut least try. a system whereby icen when shooCin.' will take aim with both -yes. The War 0...1 c have for a long time >~...;, nrged to ado i the practice, but Loid Wolseley ridiculed the idea when, a few years ago. General i'::.-fcer put before-him 111 Invention by :.(,• Gilbert Russell, of .Mouph. The principle concerned is simple If you aim with a rifle at a distant object so long as your gaze Is concentrated on the object and both -■;=•.< are open you see two images 0 f the baii-.d. It is through the aighr-image seen by tbp right eye that you aim, and you arc told v, dose the left eve to avoid confused vSi n. But if you keep the left eye open, and 1 y chance cover the nbject with the inuz.'.l.-sK-ht as seen by the left eye instead of the right, you will fire high and far to the left. Curiously enough this is just what happens in action at short range, when the r.rln.: has to be done in a groat hurry. Commanding officers have oeen much puzzled by finding that wnlle comparatively deliberate distant firing is done we.., as soon as the troops are flurried b> having to fire at a foe close to them much of the firing goes high. Mr Russell's invention, to obviate this, is a little shield on the barrel folding down Hat when not rtL Ir, WWeh Dt , erCP Pts the line between the left eye and the wu.-.zle-sight, and thus Ul'e left i m e P °^ ib H C t0 : " m ■* "tatafe with ™L «T both pyps rnu th en be kept open giving a much clearer definition of the object aimed at, while avoiding any wrong* throUgh the w"fh the RIFEE CLUES' BARREL. cannot at all be blamed for dSirin" to encourage, even at the expense of eli.h men. the thousands of volunteers who come under their guardianship; and et on rt other hand, the members of rifle clubs those who are sworn-in in the defence force—seem to have claims Tor recognition which in the case of thfshoot ing meeting held at Trentham last welk have been denied If „ rifle elnhmnn cannot shoot he is absolutely vklneC ?»l a defence factor; but ride clubs are formed for the pnrpose of giving a stimulus to markmanship and. from „ shooting n„,-„? of view the volunteer compS, leßera, ry speaking, do not compare favourably with the elnbs. It follows <v,n?=l,„ raoiy that the military sho_f Slve proper encouragement to hero appears to b. no argument that can be adduced against the contention—then so far as Wellington is concerned the meeting held last week was one of functional occasions which offered op nor! tunity for improvement, besides the t£_f S ,v, ' & markmanship, and all membeTs <.f the Wellington Defence Force Xuld have been invited to take part ThT nZ. vernment, by reason of having membeS of clubs sworn-in, assume some r™pon wbihty in the matter, and the clubT not unnaturally have expected some legitimate support. The Government does not™ any special meeting for this body of mark<f men, ana unless the clubs subscribe the" money themselves no rifle meetlne for tn„ benefit of rifle clubmen S J h»» When it is added that riflT la a most expensive one to follow, it win „ m bably be admitted that th« Welling military authorities should have Sn the meeting held at Trentham fast weTt open to those clubs that are Government ones, and thereby have given practical sll port, to a branch of the Defence m ' r S ■New Zealand which the gladly avail Itself of-indeed^^KJ

nfEcisls would run alter It—in time of trouble." "There may be something- In the contention that the clubs interfere with the membership of volunteer companies, and it is at this point that the crux of the position is reached. The rifle clubs are composed largely of retired volunteers, and if they did not shoot with a clnb their usefulness as a defence factor would De cone, for they would, no doubt, lose all Interest in shooting matters, and, by reason of ::ot b'-ini' able to obtain tatget practice, their efficiency would suo!er. perhaps irreparably. If the rifle clubs were composed princinally of young- men, who should De compelled to serve their apprentices!]in ia r'iie ranks of the volunteer corps, case would be entirely different, and the action of the ant-oitties in dealing severely with clubs would be supported by all rightthinking persons; but facts ihitt clubs ti.,. r -..-...-:. ? ari . no- anxious to trespass on th-> ri,-b»ful property rf the volunteers In this matter. What we want in Xi-w Zcaii.ud !s to lave a scheme prepared wh.ch wn; allow of a harmonious working of the rifle clubs and tbe vo'imteers in conjunction. At present just tne opposite obtains, much to the i egret of all those who recognise the usefulness of the clubmen as a defence factor."