PORT CHALMERS NAVALS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 61

PORT CHALMERS NAVALS.

THE MEN BEHIND, THE GUNS. From the days of the Culver in to "those of the ' Long Tom f rom - Krup.p's, the jrun and. the man behind it have always taken a prominent '-part in. the arguments of nations. A gun is symmetrical, and therefore ' a work of ait. Nlt has ' wonderful destructive power,- and therefore 'commends itself to man. It- is" discharged with, such a bang, "and sends its projectiles skipping so prettily aoross blue -water that women consider it perfectly delightful. >As to the man behind it, he is just a man, and that sums him" up comt»lefcely. Whether he wears a -busby and a. braided jacket," and gallops with hie piece into position under a withering fire, or, clad- in v a blue- jumper and absurdly wide nether garments, impartially meets or deals death from a barbette or battery, he is a man, and the very man the Empire wants, and wants badly. It 'be a matter for congratulation that Otago is doing her share to supply this want, and, as evidenced by the clean marksioanship of her gunners at Taiaroa Heads and elsewhere, doing it so thoroughly. .. . Last" Saturday was to have been a grand finale,, in which every gun at the Heads was to have played a part, with the assistance of the' Dunorjin' Navals. It wa3 thought, however, that " the battle pTactice" would take too long, >nd that thespectacle of 50 or 60 visitors, bivouacked supperless on , Harrington Point jetty ■ in the moonlight, would too closely resemble active service" conditions ; so a_ more 'modest programme was drawn up, 'in which the Pori Chalmers Navals 'figured alone. Tne ladies were again much in evidence, so 'much so that the deck room of the Lady Roberts was taxed .to the uttermost ; and the fact that standing room only was available for late arrivals by the 1.10 p.ni. train from Diinedin showed* the interest the public takes in the gun and man behind it aforesaid. \ | The officers present were: Lieut. -col-oner Smyth, O.C. District; Major Strong, second in command Otago Division Garrison Artillery; Surgeon-major- Fulton; Captain Gardner, R.N.Z.A. (chief umpire);- Captains. Dodds and Frederioi and Lieutenants Doull, Cooke, White, Phillips, and Braithwaite.* . ' As the Lady Robefbs steamed down harbour to the strains, of a bandl on board the; . water was streaked most suggestively with red. The discolouration had not come' from ithe scuppers of hostile warships, but was merely "whale feed"; but.aH the gunnery was in a manner to be only a pretence it did'just as well as the real thing. Firing commenced With the 7in muzzleloader at the Neck Battery, .Captain Dodds battery commander. The weather was just the thing .for gunnery,, and a smooth sea made the objective" steady. The wind was meroifully" tempered to" tho mere civilian by the warm beams of an unolouded sun. Climatic or atmo3ph.er.io conditions do not .count with- ffujmers," who regard such de^" tails as clothing superfluous, and endeavour -to- do with as v little as .possible. For .the time .being their gunpit is a temple enshrin-' ing their great metal .deity, to which they devote themselves -with / heart and .soul. What if it is ponderous, - hard to handle, and obsolete as the Ark? . It i« their gun : that w all they care about, and. they strain every nerve to make the elephantine, creak; inj? monstrosity shoot as acourately as possible, Thej make i£ shoojb accurately,

too, and out " of 13 shots -on Saturday 12 hits were scored by the 7in. It must not for a moment be supposed, however, because - the crew of this gun by means of -keenness and manage to put the projectiles between the targets that that is any excuse for keeping this class of gun in the Otaj?o batteries. In warfare that gun would speak once, and as the smoke rolled 4 away it would be lying dismantled ma shattered pit, filled with debris, amid a green reek 'of melinite, and the blood of 12 good gunners would lie at- the doors of those complacent personages .who saytthat any old pruns-are good enough to train colonials with. - - Some good practice was "made with the 64-po"under (Lieutenant Crawford). Out of 15 shots there was only one mies, and the time was good.' Of - Captain" DoddsV command, Q.M.S. Facer, Sergeant* White and Montague (gunlayer), and Gunners Krdd,. Braithwaite, and others showed themselves smart and highly efficient; and of Lieutenant Crawford's details, -Sergeant Middleton,- and Gunnere Matthewson and Graves distinguished themselves. -The mean ranges ware : - Ca-ptain- -DodcU. 2100 : Lieutenant Crawford, 2600; and Lieutenant Braithwaite, 2500. / The gunnery was delayed^ owing to passing steamers, and it was some time after 7 o'clock when the Lady Roberts' left" the jetty^ on "her return 'passage. In -addition^ itto its- usual.c atalogue. ofceijjHts*, the Lower Harbour" had another 'object, of .interest, on view. The -myriads' of whale , feed treferredto'above had attracted shoals of .cod, which,' jumping at. the little, red 'crustaceans-,- _co troubled. . the waters- that « the , harbour seemed alive with fcam-fleoked ripples, 'in which the -fish' seemed to be- 1 danciner in time to the strains of , the band. " They swarmed. round. the steamer co thicklv> that many could, have -been easily cd-u.irht in a bucket. . Anglers had the satisfaction of knowi^i-iliat, as the 'cod had come in after the ,wh.ale feesir, to tfee kingfish 'would come in' after the cod. ,Sharks would come in after the > kiniffish, >yhich is,~. of course, quite another .story." . . , - - Port . Chalmers .was. reached "soon after 8 o'clock. . The Navak -intend to >>break camp on Wednesday, and the interim..will be devoted to examinations.