Volunteer Notes.

Te Aroha News, Volume XVI, Issue 222042, 27 January 1900, Page 2

Volunteer Notes .

By train yesterday morning Sergeant Maingay, Bugler Salmon, and Volunteer Strange left for Auckland, to attend the Auckland Rifle Association meeting to-day (Saturday) and Monday. Railway passes had been applied for, but no satisfactory answer could be got concerning them, and those who intended to go did not wish to repeat last year’s experience—i.e., arranging with the station-master here and then when in Auckland were told that passes were not granted * and each man would have to pay his own fare’ on the Government railway. So did not arrange to send entries for matches which closed on Tuesday last. A telegram came on Thursday night to the station-master authorising him to issue them—too late for the others to make arrangements’ to leave by today’s train. The three young shots should give a good account of themselves among the crack shots of Auckland. They are all shooting very well, especially Sergeant Maingay, who we expect to see placed high in the grand aggregate match on Monday; the others should score well in the Nursery and Tyro matches, and the three as a team will give even the Victorias a close time of it for honors.

It is a great pity that the question of the volunteers using the Government railways when travelling in uniform is not properly settled. The Premierpromised Mr Herries, M.H.E., that it should be, and tho power place 1 in the hands of the officers commanding districts. That lias not born done. If it has, the officers commanding distaiot does not use it but refers it to the Under-Secretary for Defence, who seems not favourable to the encouragement of shooting, especially as a qualification for volunteers. Present events prove the necessity, and suppose that sometime proper in lucements will be offered to volunteers to become proficient.