The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1880.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3700, 3 November 1880, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1880.

The year 1880, so far as the New Zealand Volunteer JForce is concerned, is likely to be an eventful one. The twelve months which are just about to expire have certainly been productive of gloomy forebodings to those officers who possess zeal for their corps. Eetrenchment is the order of the day, and>the Gbverment appear to think that cheese-paring can with advantage be instituted to the Volunteer vote. We can safely predict that if the threatened economical policy is carried out, that the noted efficient Volunteer Force of the Thames Goldfield will shortly be non est. We can scarcely credit the idea that tl any Government; will be so blind to the interest of the colony at large as to willingly destroy such a superb force' as the Thames Volunteers, which exists on the Maori frontier, with a vigor not equalled by the force of any other district in the colony. Thames Volunteers are noted for their staunch discipline; they can be taken by their officers, under the most trying circumstances, from their homes, and not the slightest trace of misbehaviour or unsoldierlike conduct can be * quoted against them. Added to this high character, the knowledge of drill is excellent, and for physique the corps of no other place can compare with the stalwart and hardy toilers of the Thames. These facts have been repeatedly stated by experienced military officers in the New Zealand Parliament' assembled. We believe that the inspection! will for. the. future be very strict— that experienced officer, Major Withers, has already given us a foretaste of what the men may expect in that respect; but we cannot credit the rumor that capitation is to be withheld from Thames corps. Our men will" submit to the sternest discipline, but they will not in addition find the State with the clothing and appointments necessary for their equipment for service in the field. Government must either continue the capitation grant, or they must confer its equivalent in the shape of free clothing and accoutrements, or submit to the other alternative —the logs of a valuable section of the defences of the colony. Whatever politics Thames men profess, whatever view they may take of the existing factions of Government, they are ready to make any reasonable sacrifices of time and money in support of the Volunteer movement : on Volunteering they are unanimous., On the outbreak of any alarm from the Maoris, Thames men are always ready for service. At the first alarm of a possible outbreak at Ohinemuri last year, the whole Thames force became instinct with new life. ThosV must know Britons very little who cannot see that if the situation was more perilous, and the chance of actual fighting moreimminent, the feeling thus exhibited would be developed to a much higher power. The state of the case may be thus expressed. We have got a fair number of our population voluntarily trained- to' arms, and forming part of a systematized military body. But these semi-soldiers may retire at a few days notice, if they [Only do bo before they are actually, called out for service. A time arrives when there is just a chance that they may be called upon to become military guardians of the peace. What do they do—make themselves safe by resigning in good timeP No; they flock to drill with greater earnestness and zeal, old members come back, recruits flock in. We are more and more convinced that the Government is wrong in the policy it contemplates pursuing, of discouraging the volunteer organisation. The fighting spirit was so vigorous among Thames volunteers last year, that it found vent in offers to form companies or even battalions for service on the Waimate Plains. It is quite enough to say that Government was gratified by these offers, Colonel Whitmove was so instructed to inform Major Murray; but the Government could not accept such offers until a much greater stress had been put upon our resources than was then likely to be put. The time may yet come when our men will be required, and great would be the outcry if the Force should then be non-existent, or diminished to shadowy proportions through a spirit of mistaken and blind economy.