CORRESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 226, 12 February 1913, Page 7

CORRESPONDENCE.

MARKING AT RIFLE MEETING. To the EJ"'or. Sir,—l note that with characteristic bravery some of the Stratford competitors at the recent rillc meeting wait till they get home to repeat their false, mean and miserable insinuations as to the honesty of the markers employed by the Association. If one is to accept their pitiful imputations one has to believe that a dozen young fellows, ordinarily of common honesty and good character, become so possessed when they enter the target trench that they, not from motives of personal gain, not from motives of personal enmity,, but in a spirit of pure malevolence, commence and continue a course of cheating and deceit i at the imminent risk of detection and > consequent loss of reputation. The idea is so ridiculous that it has only to be 1 stated to carry its own refutation. Now, Sir, as I am concerned, it is only fair that I should state my side of the case. I have had many years of experience both as marker and trench officer, and I am perfectly satisfied with the markers' j work at the meeting. True, three of them were novices, and for the first halfhour, or so there was some hesitation,' many references to me and consequent slowness, but there were no mistakes. Of course mistakes were made during the meeting . Every man is liable to do so (save and except some of the members of the Stratford Rifle Club, who are absolutely infallible), but no mistake was made that was not rectified at once. As to making holes or patching out challenged hits, the idea is both ridiculous and impossible. A. challenged target is always lowered and examined by the trench officer. The marker is not allowed to interfere in any way until the examination is complete. The informants of your Stratford reporter conveniently, yeif conveniently, forget that Captain Boon came to my assistance during the afternoon of the second dav. and that during his stay in the trench some forty-six challenges were made, of which two. or at the most three, were upheld, and the remainder disallowed. Is a o-pn-tleman like Captain Boon, who holds the King's Commission, also particeps eriminis? lam confident that every hit made on the target was recorded; that any mistake made was rectified as soon I as discovered: that there was any wil-J ful negligence, let alone cheating, on the . part of the markers, or any one' of them. I I most emphatically deny. It is odd. I remarkably odd, that the only com- ' plaints are made. I believe, by a verv ! small section of the Stratford competi- ' tors. What is behind it? Tn conclusion, j I have to thank Mr. Guy for his kindly and spirited defence of the markers. I have also to thank the many riflemen who have called on me during the dav ' for their expressions of appreciation of the markers' work and their regret that anything so contrary to fact has been said. For myself, it matters little; but I cannot see a decent lot of fellows maliciously maligned without some protest. For the informants of your Stratford correspondent I commend a close study and a personal application of the great , truth of the saying "that as a man \ speaks so is. he." Thanking you in anticipation.—l am .etc., E. ARMITAGE. Trench Officer to the Taranaki Rifle Association.