THE VOLUNTEERS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 241, 12 September 1872, Page 6

THE VOLUNTEERS.

The a nual report of the Inspector of Volunteers is before us, and like it pi ed - cessors, it is noticeable f»r its wa t of practicableness, aud the strong bias i'olonl Harington has in favor of the North Island The report begins by contrasting the s reugth of the force in March ot this year with las>t year. In 1871 there were 3725 adult volunteers and 177 cadets in the North Island, and 2190 adult volunteers and 546 cadets hi the South. Tbis yenr the North has 4038 adult volunteers and 1004 cadets; the Siutb 2004 adult volunteers and 439 cadets, showing a decrease of 3-5 adults, and an increase of 177 cadets. Every one knows the cause of the increase ot cadets. 'the Colonial meeting being held at Auckland in 1871, ga\e a wonderful impetus to volunteering there ; and one of the results was that cadet companies sprang into cxi. tence as rapidly as mushrooms. The falling off in the number of calets in the South waß more than balanced by their increase in the North ; but no cause is assigned for the decrease in the strength of the volunteers. Colonel Harington must know as well as we, that during this year it) the South Island, and in Otago in patticular, the compauiea have been very strict in the matter of attendance in drill j and numbers have been struck off the rolls for non-attendance, the result, while [ reducing the s-treugth of cotps, beini; to add to ' the efficiency of each. Surely the fact might have been mentioned. We have neither room nor the inclination to go through the clauses of the report seriatim, dealing with districts. But in reading them over we were struck with the extraordinary manner in which Colonel Harrington refers to them. He speaks of company and battalion drills as mere matters of coarse ; and is conteub to chronicle the simple fact that such were held at this place or that. There is hardly the breath of a suggestion as to how or the manner m which any company or battalion acquitted itself : whether its movements exhibited any decree of excellence or the reverse. Speaking with our limited knowledge of volunteer matters we were always under the iinpre.-siou that it was essentially the duty of an Inspector of Volunteers to make his report the medium of informing the commanders of districts ia what respects the companies under tbeir charges had done credit to their traiuing, as being some recognition of the services of tr.e staff officers, and in what they had failed, and were deserving of condemnation, in order that steps might be taken in the future to correct the faults of the past. Suoh, we know, is done by volunteer inspectors in England, — men of ability and experience, — and we cannot understand why the practice is not followed out here. Of one thing we are certain ; if it were done the t-ffect would be most beneficial on the force generally,

Before noticing that portion of the report which deals with our own rovince, and the Colonial prize tiring as being the next suiijeot of importance calling for a few observations, we might remark upon some features that present themselves in connexion with Col. Harington's reports of the various districts in the North Island. In the tirst place we would like to know why it is thought necessary to notice separately, aud at some length each district in the Provinces of Auckland and Wellington, while the Provinces of the Middle Island are passed over with a notice scarcely equal to that given to a country corps. If Col. Harington finds it advantageous to notice every small corps in the Waikato or at the Thames, why not do the same for Otago and Canterbury ? The mention of Waikato reminds us that that district furnished two representatives for the Colonial firing. Tbis immediately raises the question why were the men permitted to compete for representatives, when, as the report states, they were but partly drilled, in our opinion no man should be qualified to fire for place as a representative unless he had previously practised in class-tiring Two of the northern companies are armed with the Snider rifle. Being frontier companies and the Jikliest to be called into active service, it is quite right that they should be placed in possession of the best procurable weapons ; but we would urge that the Government having in store a number of the same weapon, should distribute them, so that the force might btcome familiar with the use of it. It would be monstrous, in case of emergency, to serve out to men arms with which they have not the slightest acquaintance. The proposition is so self-evident as not to require to be enlarged upon.

"We •will now turn to that part of the refort which deals with Otago. On March, 871, the Province, including Southland, mustered 1030 adult volunteers, of whom 701 earned capitation ; in March, 1872, there were 1008 enrolled, of whom 827 were efficient. Here the deficiency in numbers stands recorded, but no explanation is given, as it should have been. The reason we have attempted, to supply above. .Reference is made by the Inspector to his annual inspection of companies, but in the briefest possible manner. Here it is — "There are at present two artillery, fifteen rifle, and two naval corps, all of which I inspected, except those at Southland, which piaoe I could not visit in consequence of my being obliged to return to Christchurch for the prize-firing by a certain <iay. On the whole, I found the several corps improved since last year, excepting those in outlying districts, which all mustered strongly, except the Waikouaiti." Here again we must accuse Colonel Harington of want of candor. He should have been at the trouble to explain the cause that interfered to prevent tbe Waikouaiti company mustering — namely, the alteration of the parade day at very short notice. But what w.e most complain of is the way in which he hurrjes over everthing connected with Otago. Surely the companies could be individually named, as has been done in the case of North Island companies, and their strength on parade given. But apart from it being an act of simple justice, the masters of every company in the Colony should have appeared j and thus very useful information would have been given to the entire force. And lastly, the unfortunate cadets come in for their share of the strange forgetf ulnesg vhich seems to have overtaken Colo* nel Harrington in respect to everything psrtaining to Otago. Did the Dunedin cadets ever parade -while the Inspector was here, or were they ever inspected by him, for there is no mention in the report of one or the other having taken place ? There is certainly an allusion to the High School cadets having a gymnasium at their disposal and a j reference to the advantages of gymnastic exercises, but in the superlative praise that is" given to tbe Kangitikei cadets, no mention is made why Otago, which has hitherto held a good place in the cadet competitions, has failed to do so this year. It was supplied by Major Atkinson in his report published here on June 27, and must have been within the knowledge of the Inspector, whose report is dated a month Jafcer. The reason was that the Otago boys had been practising with the Lancaste^'rifte until a week or fcwo before the firing took place, when they were armed with carbineß. The only part of the report that meets with our approval is where credit is given to Major Atkinson and his staff sergeants "for their untiring zeal in the performance of their duties," in which opinion all volunteers of' this Province will agree

. That portion of the report Which deals with the Colonial Prize Firing mint form the subject of * separate article.