THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7957, 6 February 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1906.

No finer example of the value of the rifle in modern warfare, or rather of its value as a national defence, through tbe people of a country generally being able to use the weapon effectively, has been given than in the late Boer war. Every Boer was, practically, a soldier, consequently the men of that country, aa a whole, comprised its army, and their momentum as a fighting machine is so well-known that it would be superfluous to refer to it in these few lines. But, as a people, we do not learn quickly, and as individuals tho individuals that make the nation—we are prone to forget the lessons emphasised by experiences in the past. (Lord Roberts—England's greatest soldier

—has for sometime pa9t been endeavouring to impress his fellow countrymen with the urgent need of fostering and developing rifle clubs in Great Britain. He has appealed for £IOO,OOO in aid of the project, and the resronse has been £1,860! Had Lord Roberts made his appeal in "the dark days" of the Boer war it i 9 safe to say that twice the sum asked for would have been subscribed in a surprisingly short space of time. it is true that it hap been urged that the question was qne for the State to take up, and, to our mind, the contention is a sound one, but it must be bitterly disappointing to the aged and distinguished General "Bobs of Khandahar," a name, it has been said, dear to the heart of every Britisher, to realise that even he, in the course of his most energetic appeal, has been unable to rouse his fellow compatriots to subscribe, more than £1.860 for the purpose mentioned. But the fruitlessness of Lord Roberts' propaganda would seem to indicate that the people of Great Britain have ceased to think about the practising of rifle shooting generally as a means of national defence; and if the people have ceased to care, what will the authorities do? Apparently, it is recognised by many people at Home that it is a question for the State to take up, and it is, also, a matter that the Government in this country do not encourage to the extent that they should.