VOLUNTEER REPORT.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 76, 28 August 1874, Page 2

VOLUNTEER REPORT.

[By Electric Telegraph.] (From a correspondent of the, Press.) Wellington, Aug 27. Col Gordon's report on the volunteers is awfully condemnatory. He charges some of the Wellington, Napier, and Auckland corps with gross insubordination. He is particularly severe on the inefficiency of the Otago corps. He speaks thus of his Canterbury inspection—"ln this district the corps of which I can speak in commendatory terms are the yeomanry cavalry, the Christchurch artillery, No 1 engineers, and city guards ; No 2 engineers at Heathcote, twenty-nine strong on the roll, produced only two men, one of whom was very drunk ; this corps will I conclude be disbanded. The Timaru artillery is a very unsatisfactory state. Only eleven of all ranks paraded (with nine musicians. Attached is a cadet company numbering 21, but only seven were present. The Lyttelton artillery company, though few in number, acquitted itself well, and asked to be supplied with heavy garrison guns, of which there are many in Auckland not in use (in lieu of field-pieces), in order to place them in position as a standing battery on an escapement on the heights overlooking the harbor. I advise that the request be complied with, so that their six-pounder Armstrong may be available for some other companies. With reference to the companies whose districts are located in the country, the commanding officer represented that it would be impossible to obtain a muster in January (the month of my visit), available man was engaged harvesting. In future the uniform recommended is, for infantry rifle, the green of the English rifle brigade, each corps to have a distinguishing shoulder-strap and cap badge; tne artillery, cavalry, and Scottish naval companies to be allowed to have distinctive uniforms, if desired, with the exception of corps, including the Engineers, which should be made to adopt a similar uniform. Colonel Gordon admits that the force has been in an inefficient condition for many years, aud goes on to say :—" I regret to have to record my conscientious belief that the amount of public money expended on capitation on the 31st of March last was lamentably in excess of the sum which should otherwise represent a state of efficiency, so that immediate and effectual measures should be had recourse to, to arrest for the future the useless and wanton expenditure which has for so long a period been carried on, and for which the officers commanding districts are primarily responsible." He then proceeds to bring some grave charges against officers, and cites innumerable instances in which the Government officer recommended and procured capitation for men who have not earned certificates as efficient', and who have not so much as even heard of such a document ; of cases where no monthly parades were held as the regulations direct, yet it has been certified that these parades took place ; instances in which efficient certificates have been thrust into the hands of men and the capitation obtained for them, who did not admittedly possess the knowledge which these certificates affirmed the men possessed best. He proceeds to discuss the causes which have produced the existing condition of things, as follows : —ln the first place, lax and incompetent commanding officers and unqualified drill instructors may be held accountable. As a second cause, he must blame the captains of companies, but in some measure only, for arming the members of these corps without any preliminary drill and placing them in the ranks beside their better drilled comrades, when the 28th clause of the regulations enjoins upon them that they shall, before enrolling new members, subject the recruits to a prescribed, amount of rudimentary drill. If this regulation were attended to he was confident that there would be a larger attendance at drill than at present, and more competent members would result. The third cause is the Press exercises a most pernicious and detrimental influence on the movement, sometimes by enlarging in the most laudatory terms upon the manner in which the Volunteer Corps go through their movements on parade, when, as in cases which I shall instance, no parade had taken place. At others, by condemning what had taken place when the attendance was large and the movements creditably executed. The press incites, no doubt unwittingly, in a large degree to acts of insubordination amongst the volunteers by the publication of statements audacious in the extreme, and eminently calculated to bring the force into disgrace. Another cause of the great decline in the efficiency of the force is the constantly recurring assurance that new regulations are being prepared for introduction, but the anticipated movements are slow in presenting themselves. Of late the volunteers have looked forward with revived interest to the promulgation of the amended regulations recently referred to by the Defence Minister as if those are found ineffectual to make the force more efficient than it is, it will probably be the last attempt made with such a view. If the amended regulations referred to are those which have been lately circulated amongst the officers commanding the districts for a report on them, it is no harm to say that, in my opinion, they are not calculated to bring about a change for the better. On the contrary, many of the suggestions, if adopted, will have the effect of introducing trouble, discord, and greater inefficiency than at present exists of all the causes which have tended to suppress enthusiasm for volunteering which used formerly to obtain. An unexampled prosperity in all portions of the colony should be taken advantage of (taking also into consideration the fact that the power of any force is quadrupled by the possession of breech - loading arms) to reduce materially, if disbandment is not decided upon, the unwieldy force now on paper only, and substituting small effective forces in populous localities only." To remedy all this Colonel Gordon recommends, " After the annual class and district firing are over, which should be by the 31st of December, that the whole of the Enfield and Terry rifles and accoutrements throughout the colony should be recalled into store ; that for three succeeding months drills should be carried out without arms, so as to complete, if necessary, the number of parades, to insure capitation, and on the 31&t of March disband the entire force, all the commissions lapsing, On the

Ist of April allow it to re-enrol, previously having employed an able commission, not composed of officers commanding to visit the various centres of population and obtain opinions from every reliable source. The commission should commence operations at once, so as the present f orce,bef ore the 31st of March, may well digest the scheme, in order on the Ist of April, that the re-enrolment may be effected, each corps then giving, before their services are accepted, an assurance that they will abide by, and conform in every way to the new code. Then to the new corps let breech-loading arms be issued, but no ammunition until they are reported to be thoroughly acquainted with the firing exercises. The commission should decide or recommend what number of corps shall be recognised, in what localities, and the number of each specified branch of the service, whether cavalry, artillery, infantry, or naval. By such means an efficient and manageable force would be obtained. I do not myself think the existing regulations can be improved upon, excepting in very minor points, where additions would be desirable. They are excellent as far as they go, but for some unaccountable reason they seem to have been set aside by those whose duty it has been to administer them. The commission should be asked to give opinion as to whether it would be advisable or expedient to permit men who desire or intend to re-enrol, to 'purchase Enfield rifles at a reduced cost, in order that they might be able to retain the knowledge acquired by them while belonging to the force. By such an arrangement the various companies would not be embarrassed with occasional men, who, although expert shots, are in other respects useless members of the corps. Such men might be termed the volunteer reserve." He refers to the reproach of the volunteers in certain quarters as rifle clubs. He does not see any great impropriety in corps establishing within themselves corps clubs. He thinks that the assertion so commonly made that the corps are nothing but these clubs, unfounded, for his experience has been that members of rifle clubs were, in the majority of cases, the most regular attendants on drill. In conclusion, he says—" I must record my respectful opinion, in opposition to the habit so prevalent of late, of decrying and denouncing, in harsh and unmeasured terms, the services of the force! lhat services had been rendered to the country by the volunteers in times of need and calamity which are past, should not be either forgotten or lightly esteemed. With respect to those who habitually attend drill, I am able confidently to state that there could not exist a more intelligent, obedient, and apt body of men, who deserve every consideration and encouragement. Why they attend drill at all in view of the contemptuous and prejudicial opinions which in numerous and influential quarters are given expression to with respect to the force generally, is a matter -qi, much surprise." .]■,.,