SCIENCE OF RIFLE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1687, 1 March 1913, Page 6

SCIENCE OF RIFLE.

CAPTAIN WALLINGFORD'S ADVICE. Captain Wallingford, of tho New Zealand Staff Corps, is admitted to be the best riflo shot in the British Empire, and one of the, foremost authorities on tho science of musketry in tho world. Everybody said here, when they heard'of his appointment to the New Zealand Forces, that the Dominion was extremely fortunate to secure his sorvices. .

It is known that tho British Government was' very reluctant to let him leave the School of Musketry at Hythe, and his loss to the Imperial Army was regarded as so Serious a matter that it was even discussed in Parliament. However, ho canio out here, presumably, it was thought, to organise and supervise a school of musketry in New Zealand. Instead, he was posted to area duty in the north, and- as everyone knows, and a great many complain, the clerical duties of tho aTea officer are so'multifarious and exacting that rarely does he get time for imparting instruction. Captain AVallingford, the foremost musketry expert in tho world, is absorbed, in clerical work in Auckland! Addressing tho teams after the fieldfiring teams' contest yesterday, Captain Wallingford gave the men some practical advice in fire discipline, and on their conduct generally during field firing. They had been rather successful on\the whole, he said, but; they were, lacking m discipline. For tlieir benefit, and to meet the .'criticisms of Imperial officers and of seme of their own officers who could not shoot, but were very fond of running them down as "pot-hunters," he urged them to keep up their drill. If. their fire discipline was.as good as their shooting—they had brains, and knew how to use them—they would do. But they must' perfect their drill, in order to lie steady under fire, and amenable to the discipline of their fire commander, whose 'duty .it was to indicato the target, eivo tho range, and control tho fire. They must give up the habit of about them during firing. In this respect tho Karori Riflo Club had done excellently, and he had awarded full points for fire discipline and drill. Tho drill requirements for rifle club 3 were simple, and could be grasped in two or three days time. After that, all that was asked was that they should practise this part of their work on every possible occasion— every time thev went on the range. Captain, Wallingford also referred to the. practice of rifle club teams parading part;ly in, uniform and partly in irnifti. It was important that they should not neglect this. If they attended to these matters ho had there would be no need for an army in New Zealand. If they desired to counter those who wero in the habit of referring to them as 'pothunters" —he was a ' pot-liunter himself—then they must prove themselves cflicient in the field.

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