MODERN MARKSMANSHIP. Rifles and their Accessories.

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 141, 14 March 1903, Page 8

MODERN MARKSMANSHIP. Rifles and their Accessories.

WHEN a soldier with, a gun is looking for the enemy, and that gentleman appears on the skyline, the staff-signaller does not, as a rule, question the enemy as to the exact distance he happens to be from the firing point, for the information, of the man who wants to kill him. The main with the gun is not going to win a championship at Trentiham — he merely n ants to kill the gentleman on the skyline, and he has got nothing but a rifle to do it with. It is hard on Tommy. Not even a bit of lamp-black to darken his foresight, not a drop of white or red pa-nt to get a centre line, no wind gauge to find the velocity of the gale, no orthoptic to vignette the enemy clearly against the sky, no "vernier," "no nothing," not even a spokeshave to smooth the hills down, or a lawn-mower to remove the interfering grass, but meiely a tested rifle, capable of putting a man's light out at a mile and a quarter. * * » The rifle clubs of New Zealand are now a part and parcel of the defence forces of the colony, and the members may be called upon in the dim future to grab their half-hundredwedght of tools, and stop the enemy. The strong probabilities are that the enemy will be perfectly safe if the baggage-waggon Continued on page 21.)

(Continued Jiom page b.) with the paint-pots aboard gets stuck in a cieek, and the 'shots" are unable to laise a wind gauge, do not know the lange, and the grass happens to be waving. Rifle shooting is being fostered by the Government, so that the men who ha\e the rifles may be of service when the tiumpet blares, and all that kind of thing. The Government will not supply shooting tools other than rifles when the bother comes, and it will be unable to le^-rope the enemy to a spot duly marked with the exact distance in yaids. # + * The best shot now-a-days is the man who knows best how to us*? the gewgaws consideied necessaiy to hit a target, but impracticable if applied to manslaying. The army authorities are endeavouring to train troops as if they were actually campaigning, and yet the same authoi lties allow men to "finick" for two minutes before they fiie a shot at the butts We would suggest that for greater accuracy the rifleman should be supplied with a steel rest, with a pointed end, and a maul with wluch to drive it in. The top could be fitted w ith a vyce to hold the rifle, and each soldier could be supplied with a blacksmith and a Bachelor of Science, with honors m wind curients, to advise him * * ■» If all aids to rifle shooting were swept aw ay, the shot who w as the best man for his countiy in times of stress would win the prize. The man who can shoot "outers" from an unknown distance, without the u&e of half-a-dozen, paints and patents, is a better man than the 'finicker," who makes the "possible" with all the accessories of the craft. As long as shooting is done under artificial conditions, it might be just as well to call up men w T ho have never seen a rifle to defend our shores, for of a surety the "pot-hunter" would be badly left without his kit of tricks. All shooting should be done under act've service conditions, known distances should be abolished, and all the paraphernalia carted about by the not-always-noble army of uniformed and ununiformeid "pot-hunters" should be relegated to the scrap-non heap, a place they will assuredly have to go to when the rifle is used for the stern purpose for which it was made.

The Railway Department will run holiday excursion trains to Opaki, for the Master-torn races, on the 19th and 20th inst, from Te An> and all intermediate stations, and from Palmeirstoai North and all intermediate stations. Times of departure and arrival and other particulars are set out by advertisement elsewhere. Mr. J. N. Isaacs, who has been away to England for three years, learning all that is new in the art of photography, has acquired great skill in the most modern methods. He particularly strives to produce natural results, and there is an absence of stolidity about his subjects that does credit to his training. He is remarkably successful in obtaining good results in cHld photography, and already th^ Victoria Studio, in Manners-street, has many patrons who eulogise Ins skill. His Excellency the Governor, and all the prominent people of Wellington, will be at the Opera House on Thursday, 19th Mai oh, on which date the send-off concert to Miss Ettie Maginnity will take place. The representative committee have arranged a -splendid programme for the occasion. Everyone ■nha is keen on the success of talented young New Zealanders will help to swell the oroceeds of the concert, and from present indications the affair promises to be a, phenomenal success John Fuller and Sons' faith in Wellington as a show town has never faltered, although the popular entertainers had left us alone for nearly two years. On March 14th, the Choral Hall will be agaui occupied by these popular people, and Denis Carney, the Yorksihireman with the Irish name, will do his best, together with a talented company, to give you full value for your money. The City Council is on the warpath, and its intended prey is the unregistered dog. Quite a large crowd of owners of uncollared canines are being served with summonses, and to those neople who own pups that are past the milktooth a,ge, we would say "Pay uv like a man before the arrival of the sum-mons-server."