THE FRENCH AND GERMAN ARMIES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 40, 7 June 1876, Page 2

THE FRENCH AND GERMAN ARMIES.

Writing about the French and German armies, the "Army and Navy Gazette" says : —" Wc believe that the French army; in spite of what has been wwSten in this country on the subject, is'Vsaking great progress in every way. Work is being done silently and well. We have just seen the letter of an .accomplished French officer, stating that the work until a few days ago was really too hard, and dwelling on the extra aniotmt of duty necessitated by the training of reservists. We see that in Paris the cavalry regiments are being drilled to take the rail at night-time, and by ' the lantern dimly burning' a squadron rides up to a station, dismounts, piles anus, unsaddles, installs its charges in .the railway boxes, packs up hay and com, and takes its place in the carriages. Once readj for a start, orders are given to disembark, and man and steed are broken to this neif service—conveyance of cavalry. An ifflportant measure of unification in the anna 1 incut of the German army is about to be effected. The Bavarian German Pode wils, inventor of a system of muzzle-load-ing rifles, formerly in use with the Bavarian troops, has just constructed a inctal cartridge, fitting both the regulation Werder (Bavarian) and the Mauser (Prussian rifles. This cartridge has been issue already to the Bavarian troops, and' likely to be adopted also in Prussia."