RIFLE SHOOTING

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 160, 1 April 1919, Page 5

RIFLE SHOOTING

PRESENTATION OP PRIZES. In the Town Hall last evening Colonel Sir James Allen, Minister of Defence, presented the trophies, etc., won on Saturday by Senior Cadets, Territorials, and members of rifle clubs, who competed at the annual prize meeting of the No. 5 Area Group Rifle Association.The names of the winners' appeared in yesterday's issue of The Dominion. Among the officers present were:— Major-General Sir Alfred Robin and Colonel G. F. C. Campbell. The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) was present during a part of tho proceedings. The floor of the Town Hall ■ was occupied by Cadet units paraded u.uder Captain Bell (group commander). Tho attendance of the public was small. Colonel Campbell explained that the competition held on Saturday was an annual one, supported and' subsidised by the Government and private subscribers. This year's competition had been more successful than previous ones, and he hoped that equal or greater success would attend future competitions. Before making the presentations, Sir James Allen remarked upon the cheerfulness of the faces of the boys before him. If the holding of rifle shooting competitions, ho said, conduoed to such cheerfulness—well, tho more meetings held tho bettor. It was not desired, he said, to inculcate the military spirit in New Zealand, but to foster the spirit that would lead a man to be, in case tho necessity arose, able to defend his country as he ought to do. Women wero not allowed to light for their country in tho trenches. , They fought for their country at home. But, it was the privilege of a man to take up arms if tho necessity arose. The older riflemen would understand what he meant when ho aid that he knew of no sport that was more exhilarating or that produced better .results in its followers than riflo shooting. In order to be a good rille shot a, man must lead a decent life. Ho must not drink too much or smoko too much, as his liorves had to bo steady and his eyes clear.

General Robin said that the military training of the future would bo classifiable under four headings: Discipline, digging, marching, and shooting. Of the four things, shooting was perhaps the most essential. At the conclusion, Sir James Allen hoped that when a similar gathering was held next year it would bo to mark the establishment of an even better record than that which they had been ablo to boast of this.year.