RIFLE SHOOTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 175, 23 January 1912, Page 8

RIFLE SHOOTING.

DEFENCE SCHEME OBJECTED TO. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright, Auckland, Last Night. The Defence Department's scheme of forming district or group rifle associations in the military districts throughout New Zealand has not appeared in a favorable light to quite a number of riflemen in Auckland. Government control of championship meetings hag frequently been objected to, and the Auckland Rifle. Association has- r.efusedsi.to affiliate with the Auekland'District Rifle Association, which w<is recently formed by the defence authorities. Captain Shepherd, chairman of the Management Council of the j Auckland Rifle Association, who was interviewed by a Herald reporter, is one of those who are strongly opposed to the scheme. The whole of the expenses for shooting matches were, he said, provided by the I competitors themselves, and the only things asked from the Government were railway passes. "We cannot see why any Government or any body should say how we are to spend our own money, especially when the Government does so little. It gives the men for class firing . 100 rounds a year, and 100 rounds a i year is of no earthly use to a man who desires to make himself a first-clasß shot. ' The objectors cannot see any valid rea- , son for the Government to run prize meetings for which the men subscribe the prize money." When Colonel G. C. B. Wolfe, officer commanding the Auckland military district, was asked for an expression of his opinion of the matter, he said he would prefer not to discuss it at present, as General Godley would arrive in Auckland in a few days, and might wish that any official announcement should coma from himself.