Volunteer Reorganization.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4218, 8 July 1882, Page 5 (Supplement)

Volunteer Reorganization.

As a considerable amount of interest is now being manifested in Volunteering circles on the late report of the Volunteer Commission, and as we have been urgently requested by a number of our Volunteers to give greater publicity to a pamphlet entitled " Suggestions relating to the Defences of JNew Zealand, an* the lieorganization of fie Volunteers," by J. Stormont Small, Senior Captain, Thames district,^we now publish a number of extracts from the brochure bearing the above title, a copy of which has been forwarded us by an esteemed Volunteering friend. In this issue we give his romarfc« on" Volunteer matters as they are a^ present,".in our next we purpose giving his suggestions for reorganization. The writers first practical knowledge in the art of war began in 1860, when he was among the first to join the volunteer ', movement in Victoria, and commenced his j career as a rifleman, after which he joined j JJia.Afti!!*rj, andjras_drtllga_first to the I

Howitzer and then to the Armstrong gun. la 1^53 be joined the first contingent for New Zealand, and was present under General Cameron through the whole of the Waika,to war, then'the East Coast war under Colonel Harrington, and was under fire in all the engagements, in the meantime passing through the non-com" missioned officer grades from private to senior sergeant.

After his regiment was disbanded he came to the Thames and was oneVof the originators of the volunteer movement at that place, then sergeant major of the late engineer volunteer militia, from which corps he resigned because r of certain fraudulent transactions by the officers which he fully exposed, then re-joined the Thames volunteers, and became lieutenant of the No. 2 Hauraki Rifles, and subsequently captain commanding Hauraki Engineers, and now senior captain Thames volunteers.

It will be seen that the foregoing includes a period of nearly twenty-two years continuous military service of such a nature as to enable the writer to make himself acquainted more or less with the internal and external workings of nearly every branch included in the regular and volunteer forces.

!'Under the present system as carried out the positions of officers and men are reversed; the men command and the officers serve. This state of things has its first cause in the fact that a man can leave his own company when be pleases and join another. Now if a commanding officer should so far forget himself as to offendhis men, say by exercising strict discipline, he is punished by the men joining another company, where matters, are conducted more to their taste, where, in other words, they can do as they like. To lose men in a very serious matter, be^ cause with them goes the capitation, and all the expenses which the company has been put to for these men cannot be recouped ; thus the officers who. have attempted to carry out the regulations in their integrity have been placed in a false position. That there is a fair sprinkling of smart capable officers in the volunteer force is admitted with pleasure, but these gentlemen'g hands are effectually lied. The rule is the majority of the officers are neither suited nor educated for the work, therefore' incompetent. In numerous instances they are popular amongst the men in accordance with the length of their pursei; shouting, prize-giving, and general jolly-good fellow capababilities ; when this ceases, which it must sooner or later, dissatisfaction ensues.

" The majority of volunteers are composed of that class who possess the least stake in the country, namely, laborers, miners, shopmen; 1 clerks, mechanics, tradesmen, and the various descriptions of employes; of c»urse there are a few exceptions to this rule. The material is good, very good, but the men's hearts or interests are not in the work, as the service is a thankless one; whether they be good volunteers or bad ones it is a matter of indifference to them; the reward is all the same —nill. Whether they serve for a month, a year, or twenty.years the return is the same, viz., nothing, no, if they faithfully served as defenders of our hearths and homes until they were so aged as to render them unable to earn their daily bread it would not entitle them to a home in a paupers' refuge.'

"With regard to the money given by the Government and others for shooting, it certainly has the effect of holding together a small nucleus of the volunteer, composing the shooting men, upon which from time to time the companies have been rebuilt. That these shooting men, good and indifferent shots combined, are in a minority can be proved by reference to the district prize firing returns for the past five years. As a rule every volunteer who has any idea of shooting competes for Government prizes. It may be found that it is over the mark when it is said that there is under an average of twenty in every hundred who can shoot; as for the remaining eighty per cent., the majority of these it is highly dangerous to entrust aloadedrifie.as their experience beyond firing a few shots intended to hit the target, but actual destination unknown, consists in firing blank ammunition at an occasional sham fight, which happens about once a year ; but it is only fair to add that there are a few companies in New Zealand which are remarkable exceptions to this rule. The Parihaka affair may be adduced as a proof of the efficiency of the volunteer force; we may be thankful it was not put to the test. Although there were well drilled and tried men, a"nd a few good and capable officers, and at the head, an officer well able to handle men, viz., Major Pitt, yet, notwithstanding this and all the parade and show, had the Maoris had any idea of our actual weakness the result might have been disastrous, not only, because of the confusion which would have arisen in case of attack, not only because of the number which would have fallen at the hands of the Maoris, but because of those who might have been shot by their own comrades. The writer has seen men shot dead at his side by their own friends in the excitement of action—by far better drilled men than were at Parihaka; indeed he has seen one division blazing away furiously at another division who were engaging the enemy in front. The East Coast war was caused through the incapability and foolishness of one officer. '

" HayiDg sifted the character of the present force at our command, but one conclusion can be come to, viz., that, in the event of an enemy attempting to land, a very feeble resistance would be offered, not because of lack of courage in the forces at btjr disposal, but because from a military point of view they are officered by inferior talent, and from the general looseness of discipline, and altogether the very superficial character of oven what are considered our crack companies. The companies of the Thames are not to be excepted from this general condemnation, which corps on special occasions, through the possession of a first-class drill instructor and two or three experienced officers, are enabled to make a display, although if the whole truth were known they are very little better than their neighbors. It may be well to observe here with reference to the Thames volun* teers what will apply more or less to all companies in New Zealand. When volunteering was first started at this place a good proportion of the force was composed of officers and men who had seen service; this will be understood when it is known that war had just ceased, and the excitement of the Poverty Bay massacre was at its height. Major Cooper, an experienced and well- qualified officer, was appointed to the command of the Thames, This gentleman's heart was in the cause, and under his care a high state of efficiency for volunteers ensued ; every Saturday afternoon was devoted to uniform parade, and the result was excel-

lent, both as regards number and progress. It was compulsory for volunteers to go through the whole of- the regular course of class firing under the personal super* vision of Mojor Cooper, assisted by the district instructor, now Lieutenant Grant. The result of this system was that every man had a knowledge of the rifle, although crack shots were scarcer in those days.. Well, since the district had the misfortune to lose Major Cooper, there has been a gradual retrograde movement as regards actual general efficiency, although the prestige of the place has been maintained by the shadow or show instead of the real substance; the class firing has altogether ceased, yet there are a largo number of crack shots, but the^majority of the men can scarcely shoot at all; daylight drill is a thing of the'past, but still the men look splendid in their handsome scari/et uni foems, and, by the way, appearances go a long way, but whether they would put an attacking force to flight is quite another, thing. Enough has been said to satisfy all that the volunteer force badly wants re organization, and that a radical change must be made before it can hope to sue cessfully oppose the landing of a civilised foe."