INTERCOLONIAL RIFLE MATCH.

West Coast Times, Issue 391, 24 December 1866, Page 2 (Supplement)

INTERCOLONIAL RIFLE MATCH.

(rSOM THE MELBOURNE ABOtTS, DEO. 10.)

Last Saturday saw the conclusion of the Intercolonial Rifle Match for 1866, and Victorians defeat. We had shot so well at the shorter ranges — and at the latter half of the shooting at 800 yards manifested in the first few rounds so excellent a disposition to retrieve our losses, that the splendid and complete victory of the New South Walesmen came doubly hard on us. Nor was our discomfiture so private an affair as rifle matches are usually allowed to be. The public were cordially invited to witness, on the last day, a close fight — a tussle fer the premiership ; they came in hundreds, and, watching the affair so intently that it required a strong appeal from Majors Hall and Eastwood to hush the applause that was sure to disturb the equanimity of the competitors, they witnessed the winning points, which were fourteen at 700 yardß, became forty at 800 yards, and ninety at 900 yards. Nothing disturbed or daunted our opponents, and their triumph is as legitimate as it is enviable. We learn therefrom that they won from two causes : the first their superior average in shooting, which, whether arising from their greater practice or not, is undoubted ; and secondly, their possession of weapons which gave them a very great advantage. They all carry the best match Whitworths, of the same pattern, presented by the New South Wales Government, when the competitors of that colony lost all their baggage, and rifles too, in the wreck s.s. City of Sydney, in which they were returning from Victoria. Such uniformity, as well as superiority of pattern, giVes their owners this vast assistance, thai; each man can, after firing, offer the very best counsel to his successor; but how in our team can J. W. Fawcett or M'Clure, who carry Whitworths, give much iuformation to M'Naughten and Templcton, who carry ELerrs ; or Lacey, who carries au Aston; or Col. Rede, who carries a Henry. Our defeat has come through our rivals' skill, no doubt ; but this inferiority of weapons accounts for a great deal, and should be remembered by those who desire to encourage rifle shooting in Victoria. It 19 not likely that fifty guinea rifles can be easily obtained through the private resource of men who, as it is, give away much tinje and money in their practice, which on an average costs them 8s por day per man.

The character of the shooting varied in respect to Victoria, but in respect to New South 'Wales it rose w ith the occasion. Tu<? totai points made on either side show that we made thirteen points less than in 1865, while the New South Welshmen made sixty two poitts more. This is immaterial, but it ia worth remembering, that at 900 yards, the longest and most difficult range, Victoria made 227 points, or nine points less than New South Wale 3 made in 1865, while our rivals made 277 points, which was just what we made at the last contest. Our men shot occasionally well or ill, but but the New South Welshmen seemed always to go to work in the same way. They would foil at first ; a baffling wind would put them off, or they would be misled by the mirage which is so common ia Hobson's Bay, but sooner or later they would get full on to the target and there stop. These things must be pondered over if we are to win next year ; and it must be well remembered that the finest riflemen in the world — and ours are not among the worst — can be beaten by a superior weapon. No fair exception could be made to the selection of our men. They were all chosen because they had made the highest averages in practice, and what more could be asked for ? They fought, too, under the best conditions for themselves, on their own ground — so notoriously unfavorable to the men from New South Wales, who are accustomed at Paddington to a good background to their ranges. The following list of the best eight on both sides will show that even in individual scoring we have come off second best : —

Ties, it must be understood, are settled by comparing the last scores, and the superiority of Slade and Brownlow at 900 yards over those who tied with them gives them the precedence. Next after J. W. Fawcett and M'Clure, the highest Victorian score ia Templeton's 218 points, but even that is below the 220 points of Dickson, N.S.W. The following are the total scores of both teams :—: —

GteAND JtmtES.— The "Standard" calls for the abolition of the "grand jury" as a useless relic of antiquity. For many years past there has been a deep and deepening conviction that there is no good reason why the institution should be retained. According to ancient usage and actual theory, grand jurors ought to be chosen from freeholders, bankers, merchants, and gentlemen of position in the oounty, so as to give the prisoner the advantage of having the witnesses againsthim heard by personß more highly educated than those of -whom our petty juries are usually composed. Bnfc in present practice this idea is never realisfid. Between reluctance to serve and willingness to exempt the proportion of duly qualified persons actually serving on the grand jury is almost infinitessimally small, and, in short, there is little difference except in name between them and their brethren of the petty jury. Now and then we get painstaking and pragmatical parties, who will sift everything as though their own opinion was of the last importance, and then judges, juries, counsel, attorneys, witnesses, and auditors alike are kept waiting while they are making up their minds on some perfectly plain case, or painfully endeavoring to balance opposing probabilities before endorsing the indictments. And, as two recent cases have shown us, even thi3 simple duty they do not always perform properly. Taken together, the two cases show that the grand jury may often be positively mischievous as well as simply useless.

" I am moving in a very high circle," as the ■weep said when he turned himself round in a thimney pot. NeTW ohuso a bullet that has gon# by you.

VICTORIA. Pfcs. i. W..Fawcett... 243 if'Clure 240 Fempleton ... 218 Macartney ... 214 'ohnson 212 jacey 211 dPNaughten ...'209 lergt. Mumby ... 195 30l Kede 190 jieut. Walker ... 181 New S. Wales. Pts, Slade 243 Linsley 234 Wickliam 232 Kayner 229 Brownlow 223 Lynch 223 Dictson 22C Hordern 211 Sharp 205 Ensign Strong ... 18C

Slade, N.S.W J. W. Fawcett, Victoria... M'Clure, Victoria Linsley, N.S.W Wicfcham, N.S.W. Raynor, N.S.W Brownlow, N.S.W Lynch, N.S.W. 1 fomts. 243 243 240 234 232 229 223 223