WHAT THE LORDS THINK OF OUR VOLUNTEERS.

Evening Star, Issue 3597, 2 September 1874, Page 2

WHAT THE LORDS THINK OF OUR VOLUNTEERS.

No. IL {From our own Correspondent.) Wellington, August 28,. On Friday last we had a second edition of the military men’s complaints, and Colonel Brett’s long promised speech, which he delivered in moving a wordy motion on the subject of our defences. No one can have the faintest idea of its effect on the Council. 'lhe gallant colonel is one of thosemen who have to be seen to he appreciated. His manner and action *are alike indescribable ; and all I can say is that the Council chamber rang with laughter during the whole t rae the hon. gentleman was on his feet. How the corn-bin-d onslaught of Captain Fraser and Colonel Brett provoked the wrath of Mr vScotland, himself a W-lunteer; how the latter by cdling the British soldier a “hireling ’ at 13 I a aay ; bow there was a general row, followed by a general recondition, your readers knew days' ago, so that it is unneessary now to refer to these matters. Mr Mantel! gave expression to his feelings on the subject, though not in the manner he would have done had this “ little scene” not occurred. “ He had hoped that a litTe place woulddiave been left for au old Colonist to have drawn upon his reminiscences ; but-for the first time in his life he wa* afraid to say what he thought about British cavalry captains, &c., because the consequences might hardly be reconcilable with the usual Parliamentary piactice. He must render this tribute to the British army ; it gave him more amusement and less instruction than any other be had ever come in contact with.” He then went on to corroborate all Mr Scotland had said ; and in a most humorous vein proceeded to relate how in the early wars of the Colony 1,100 British soldiers, under a Colonel Beeves, went up the Hutt to attack a pah, and retreated on seeing the enemy ; that a Volunteer ofiic r, with six men, hearing the firing, went to the spot where the troops had left, au I drove the enemy—a poor old man and a woman out of the stockade, in which one Volunteer was left in charge and retained possession. A similar circumstance in connection with the Taranaki war was related by Dr Grace. Ihe upshot of the whole matter is that while the Volunteers have strong enemies in the Council, they have valiant friends, who will not hear them maligned without saying a word or two m their defence. While your Voluntetw may therefore take heart of grace, you must bear in mind that the credit belongs not to you—the Volunteers of to-day—but to those who have seen service in another part of the Colony. It would not be out of place here to quote what was lately, written m another part of the world, where the condition of the movement was very similar to what it now is in this part of the Colony “ Volunteers: Disparagement and ridicule attended the earlier struggles of the advocates of a Volunteer force. To these succeeded the era of acceptance and recognition, and of excessive and overweening laudation. A Volunteer was held to be as good as a regular, and a great deal better. Then came a period of revulsion of feeling, and just now it would sepm as though any stick were good enough with which to cudgel the citizen who, very often at a considerable sacrifice of time and money, devotes himself to the service of his country. The capricious and inconstant public have treated the volunteers very much as the gentleman who had lost bis memory at cards treated his servant —he kicked him downstairs because he was ‘always tying his shoe.’ Pertinacity in tying their shoes—that is to say, in being perfectly inoffensive—has led to theVeluntrer force being presented with a capitation fe-j of cold water. Ihe original motto of the force was ‘ defence not defiance ;’ but they might aptly borrow another, as ‘ Resurgam.’ d bey will arise some of these days when their services are wanted again, and become more popular than ever. ’