THE GOVERNOR ON COLUNTEER DEFENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 147, 19 June 1878, Page 4

THE GOVERNOR ON COLUNTEER DEFENCE.

His Excellency the Governor reviewed the Chriatchurch volunteers on 'Wednesday night, arid on the conclusion of the regular, manoeuvres addressed •;.- them in a very able and interesting speech on the importance of the voluri. 1 teef movement for defensive purposes.. His Excellency, after expressing the pleasure he felt in meeting the* Christ- ; phurob volunteers, referred to his own experiences in volunteering, and told his hearer the-hiatory of the orgauisa. tion of the volunteer movement in Nova Scotia, where he was formerly Go- ■- vernor, and where what, he saw convinced him how very much could be done in ; a colony by volunteering. la a those day 8, volunteering had not been established in England, and the raovetaent was not looked upon with any great favor, but he was fortunate enough l to obtain the arms he asked for. He. made, a. requißiiiori for 3000 Btand of arms, 1 end the result, was that in 12 .months, in a colony which for years had had no defensive force of its own, there was an effective volunteer force. Then came the Trent affair, which caused a ; . fear that war might break out between England and the United States, and under that spur he was able to get a militia raised, having the existing , volunteer force to look to for his officers and, non-commissioned officers. Thus v be quickly had thirty-two thousand men in Nova Scotio, drilled or ready to drilled. He had heard it said that it ■w»B ; the duty of the Mother Country to protect her colonies, that it was her duty to lend her great name, power, and prestige for their defence. Undoubtedly it , was of vital importance to a.yonng colony to be so guarded from any large organised attack, but to say that the Mother Country was bound r : fo defend every portion of the soil of each of her colonies was simply absurd. clt was the duty of every man to be prepared to act in the defence of his • country, and he did not think the paoi'Z pie of New Zealand would be behind hand should any emergency arise. The ;,"-. Goyernment.had ordered guns for batteriee to defend the four principal towns of :<h6 colony, 1 ! the only points at which z: ■ theywere likely to be attacked should England unfortunately be engaged in a •^^^l^^Blß. r They had but little r''Teakon/-h'e'Ttho'ughfr,;.to. dread any general, a|tack; but it, was perfectly poesible .J^ii^ t ßiD x slQ ship, a privateer, or sailing

Under a Russian commission, might during the night slip into one of tbeir ports, and in the morning be found anchored there. That was what they had to guard against, and he had perfect confidence that the inhabitants of New Zealand were able and willing to do their duty. He trusted that volunteering would go on prospering. iWhat he had seen had given him great encouragement, and tbe satisfaction that should they be driven into war they had a safe guarantee of what might be expected. He once more thanked them for tbe opportunity that had been offorded him of meeting them,