THE VOLUNTEER BANQUET.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5505, 18 November 1878, Page 3

THE VOLUNTEER BANQUET.

(From the Morning Herald.) We must confess that the speeches delivered by Colonel Whitmore and the Hon. Mr. Sheehan on Saturday last were not calculated to produce a very beneficial effect on the volunteers. The Hon. Mr. Sheehan's idea of disbanding the force, and trusting to the training to be glvenlothecadeta in our public schools to turn out a nation of impromptu warriors, is crude to a degree, and most absurd. His remarks can only be accounted for by the fact that they formed part of an after-dinner oration, aud do not call for formal refutation. The days for our farmers playing the r6'e of Cincinnatus ou such an extended scale are past and gone, and should an enemy ever set foot upon New Zealand,'while the conditions indicated by the Hod. Mr. Sheehan obtained, he would have" worked his own sweet will upon the place ere our warrior colonists had become fully aware that something was wrong. We may well excuse the Hon, Mr. Sheehan, however, for his absurd suggestions, upon the ground that be knew no better ; but what shall be said of the very off-hand manner in which Colonel Whitmore would dispose of Russian gunboats iu our harbor ? Judged by hia speech, he reminds us of no one so much as that worthy soldier depicted by the “immortal bard,” who would in s 'single combat—one at a time—himself destroy the conten 'mg forces. We have endeavored ever since-last Saturday’s banquet to conceive tho modus operandi by which the gallant Colonel and his bugler could .succeed in placing the -crew of the Russian gauhoat in gaol ; but we are compelled to give it up. We know that old soldiers have a sovereign contempt for sailors and all connected with them, but even this uR not account for Colonel Whitmore’s extraordinary assertion. In conclusion, we may say that if the idem of the two worthy Ministers referred to are no clearer upon political thou on military matters, the public can ‘have little to hope for next session from their counsel in the Cabinet during the recess.