MASTERTON VOLUNTEERS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8376, 9 March 1907, Page 6

MASTERTON VOLUNTEERS.

The Masterton Rifle Volunteers held their first Government-parade of the year last evening. Instead of having "sand table" instruction, the corps were instructed in the open air with the Maxim gun. The scheme for the evening's work was as follows:—Word was received in Masterton, at 3 p.m. yesterday, that an enemy, accompanied by a Maxim gun, had passed through Mauriceville at 2 p.m. from the North. The Masterton Rifle Volunteers received orders to advance as a detachment, and take up a position on the heights of Lansdowne with a view to checking the advance of the enemy. Twenty-eight men, under Captain Charters and Lieutenants Morton and Brighting, turned out with the Maxim gun. They posted an outpost line at' a point of advantage and succeeded in locating the enemy in their advance. After going through some detail work with the Maxim, the Volunteers returned to the Drill Hall. Staff-Sergeant Major McNair was present during the operations. | The Masterton Rifle Volunteers have decided to discharge all the members who are not regular in their attendance at parades, and who thereby seriously affect the capitation of the corps. It has been decided to reduce the corps to an efficient standards—about forty, which wiil leave room for about twenty recruits.