CORRESPONDENCE

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 140, 18 September 1863, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE

To the Editor of the Hawke's Bay Times.

f :' on , l lhe tone of the trrr 7? c n I _ lC ; s,dcn( V winch appeared in the Hcudd of the oth instant, the Colonial Defence v.orps ss one of the hardest worked and most lormsn.knnnr and! ahhetod body of men on the face of the earth. Vi hat! no grog!! Oh! horror ! What a tremendous affliction, and what martyrs in their country s cause are these self-sacrificing and, per force, teetotal defenders thereof. 1 jSow the facts of the cam are really these. That corps is composed of a very queer lot of fellov s • tiiera are some good and many bad; they are better paid, better fed, and bareness work to do Hvcf £ iff 7 ? r d , fre ? ° Ver they had in their lives. In fact I don t believe that in the wildest dream of their imagination one half of them ever

depicted syj* a state of Elysium bliss as they now enjoy. Oh they are drilled “ morning, noon, land night” ai'e they ! Tory distressing certainl y ; and most alarmingly hard work, seeing that the morning, noon, and night drill is got over in somewhere about five hours, or less. It is the unfortunate sergeant who drills this delectable squad that gets the hard work,) and precious little for it, and he as fine a looking soldier and as good a swordsman as ever I saw.

We shall presently bear of it being found necessary to provide these ill-used fellows with a supply of temporary wives and sardine suppers, and what not. If, when these thirsty souls got hold of a supply of stimulating liquors, they would have the goodness to be moderate in their potations, no one would say much about it; but as matters stand they no sooner get grog than they make beasts of themselves.

If I was commandant of such a set of fellows, I’d very soon lot them know that, as they were more highly paid and better cared for, with less to do, than any troop of men raised for a like purpose in the world, I would have disciplinestrict, sharp, and cutting discipline, and if any member didn’t like that sort of thing, I’d send him off in less than no time. I say, clear out the “ roughs they will never be content, they never are; and their places will be readily enough filled up with men who will be glad to conform to the very unesacting regulations which are provided. As for the officers, why should they not have their “glass.” It is to be hoped that they can do so with moderation, and without being beasts. They, too, are tremendously high paid. What a comparison between the officers of a badly disciplined, ill-mounted, and hut partly drilled horse troop in this colony and the officers of one of the Queen’s Regiments. The latter gentlemen have to go through a long, weary ordeal of training and study before they can even hope to got passed for a commission, and even supposing they do get passed for the said commission, it may probably cost them other large sums of money before they can get it. And their pay ss. 3d. for a lieutenant, and about 11s. for a captain. It is to be hoped that wc shall hear no mere of the irregularities of this corps, and their wants and dislikes, and the rest of it. I trust that Major Whitmore will just put the screw on pretty tight, and make these too-well paid fellows conform to what regulations are required of them. For my part, this troop doesn’t present a very formidable appearance.

I am, Sir, AN OLD SOLDIER. Napier, fitli September, 1863.