Volunteer Items

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 66, 22 November 1892, Page 2

Volunteer Items

. .» The Marl borough Express says : — We have good reason for stating that in all probability the site ot the next Easter Encampment will be Porirua, and the chief feature an attack on Wellington by landing a force of navals, &c, at a spot which is considered to be one of the most likely for the point of attack should a foreign foe come this way. A naval demonstration will also be held there." This encampment should be, if carried out, the most useful yet held in the colony. The locality is admirably suited for the purpose. It is also at a convenient distance from Wellington, while the several corps from Wanganui down, could be taken there at a minimum of expense, in six hours by special 'trains. All volunteers who really desire to learn their work, will agree in desiring that the rules of the camp be strictly carried out, and that while the men are not allowed to wander out at their own sweet will, the public will only be admitted at stated periods, and then only during the hours of daylight. In too many cases the revenue from the sale of liquor at the canteen has been looked upon as a chief means of defraying part of the cost of the encampment, and to that end the public, as well as the volunteers, have been encouraged to " drink for the good of the cause " and in consequence the gathering has sometimes from this failed in its principal object. By all means let there be a canteen for the use of those of the men as require such an institution, but let it be kept as much in the background as is possible, instead of being made a too prominent feature in the camp.