MINIATURE RIFLES

Taranaki Daily News, 16 September 1940, Page 9

MINIATURE RIFLES

LANGLEY CUP PRESENTED Teams engaged in the South Taranaki miniature rifle competition brought a successful season to a close when they met at the Dominion Hotel for dinner. Mr. J. C. Findlater was chairman. and in presenting the Langley Cup to Mr. R. F. Shepherd, Moller's team, congratulated the winners , on their success. He referred to miniature rifle shooting as a very clean sport which engendered rivalry without hostility. Some years ago 35 marksmen's badges had been presented on one parade to members of the cadet company at the Hawera Technical High School and the foundation of that prowess was in the miniature rifle training. Value of Civillan Marksmcn. In 1899 British armies found themselves opposed to marksmen of a very high standai-d, said Mr. Shepherd in reply> These. -were the- Boers, who had learnt their marksmanship as civilian members of rifle clubs. Fortunately for the Empire the lesson was taken to heart by Lord Roberts, and by 1914 the British army possessed the best marksmen in the world. It was the great marksmanship of the British regulars in the early battles of the Great War that saved the army, he said. With our artillery down to one round per gun per day it was only the astonishing volume and accuracy of rifle fire that checked the German advance. When a young man joined a rifle club he was taken under the "wing" of an old hand, who examined and discussed the reason for every variation. With that individual training by more experienced men young riflemen soon became expert shots, much sooner than would ever be possible in the army, where there was so much else to learn and every thing had to be done under the system of mass production. With the ever-increasing use of machine-guns individual riflemen tended to become obscured, but there were still thousands of soldiers whose only weapon was the rifle. In any case if a soldier could not use a rifle with accuracy, how could he hope to use a machine -gun? Toasts were: "Donors of the Cup, Mr. and Mrs. Langley." replied to by Mr. Langley: "The Runners-up and Runnersdown" (replied to by Mr. Barker); "The Legion of Frontiersmen," sponsors of the competition (replied to by the chairman); "Host and Hostess."