VOLUNTEER NOTES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 124, 21 January 1909, Page 5

VOLUNTEER NOTES.

It is probable that the annual camp of the 2nd Regiment will this year take the form of a 'trek' on somewhat the same lines as was so successfully carried out four years ago. Should the weather prove fine the "trek" should prove most interesting and instructive from a volunteering point of view. Colonel Bell inspected the Government property in the possession of the "C" Squadron, Te Awamutu, on Wed- „ nesday last. On Saturday Colonel Bell and Sergt.Major Coleman, Staff Inspector, proceeded to Raglan, and inspected the Raglan Mounted Rifles. A parade of the Volunteer Troop was held at Kauroa, and of the Te Akau Troop at the old homestead, Te Akau. Notwithstanding the boisterous weather there was a good muster, and the Government property was found in a satisfactory condition. Colonel Wolf, commanding the Auckland Military District, proceeded to Te Puke on Monday to inspect the Local Corps, andCapt. Carpenter travelled to to Matata and Opotiki for the same purpose. The ideas of Mr Balfour on National Defence have undergone complete change during the last three and a half years. Speaking at Cardiff on November 19th last, he said "Never forget that a fleet without an army is a fleet robbed of half its virtues. Let no man be so foolish as to dream that we in these two islands can remain safely sheltered from the Btorms that shake and the outside world; removed from every danger by overwhelming naval strength. That is a vain and empty dream. If the British Empire is to. remain an Empire, in the first place it is not the fact that the Navy and the Navy alone can give an adequate home defence. The Navy must be supported by an adequate home force, and it is folly to suppose, and no instructed soldier or sailor does suppose that merely by multiplying our ironclads and neglecting the whole problem of military defence, you can flatter yourself that in every contingency you can sleep safely in your beds. Look then to your army; see that it is made adequate for all we can reasonably anticipate it will be called upon to do. Short of that you will be failing in your first duty as citizens of the Empire."

Staff-Sergt-Major Coleman left on Monday to inspect the Ohura and Ohakune Rifle Clubs.