THE TRIP TO NELSON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 749, 22 April 1881, Page 2

THE TRIP TO NELSON.

(By Our Special Correspondent.) We left Masterton by the mid-day train. It was a splendid day, and all were in high spirits. At Carterton we picked up eloven members of the Carterton Rifles, and a crowd assembled to see us off. The Band playod "The Girl I Left Behind Me," and we started, amidst cheers and waving of handkerchiefs. Through some misunderstanding there were no volunteers from Greytown for the Review, and the company from the Wairarapa consisted of 15 of the Masterton Rifles aud 12 of their band, and 12 of the Oarteitou Rifles —3B in all—under the command of Lieut, Wyllie. We atrived in Wellington, after a pleasant trip, which was enlivened by the band playing at intervals throughout the journey, shortly after six o'clock, and the men, having left their accoutrements at the drill-shed, scattered in various directions, intent on getting tea, At seven we mustered, iu company with the Wellington corps, in the drill-shed, and, after a few minutes' drill, were marched to the wharf, where the Hinemoa lay. The Hinemoa left the wharf as soon as the volunteers and their luggage were stowed on board, and in a few minutes we found ourselves—many of us for the first time—upon the briny ocijan. The sea was as calm as a millpond, and, it being moonlight, |we had a most enjoyable trip, enlivened by the bijnds playing occasionally, songs, dancing, &c, W,e arrived in Nelson harbor at 8 o'clock on Friday morning, in good health and spirits, not one Wairarapa man having been Bick; in fact I don't think there was any " porpoise shooting" done at all. There are two railway stations in Nelson—one at the wharf, and one at the town (which lies about a mile from the harbour), and the whole of the companies marched to the station at the town. object of this was, I believe, to allow time to get the artillery into the train. Here we waited for over half an hour in a broiling hot sun, and, most of us having had nothing to eat since Thursday night, our rather small stock of patience was almost exhausted when we received the command to enter the train. Brightwater lie 3 about 13 miles from Nelson, and there are four or five little stations in between, so that the journey (although it lasted an hour) was anything bi)t tedioug. All the way along the lino there are .quaint, oldfashioned farmhouses, each with an orchard, and waving handkerchiefs greeted us at every house we passed. We arrived at Brightwater at 10 o'clock, and were met there by a company formed, of the Stoke Rifles, the Nelson City Rifles and Artillery, and the Waimea Rifles. (I might mention that Lieut. Paynter, the champion shot, was amongst the Stoke Rifles.) We were marched to the camp, and had breakfast (such as itwaa). After this the men were mustered, and, having had a few minutes' drill, the work of putting up tents'was commenced. ,AH the tents being up there was a rush.for straw, , which was brought in in cartloads. ; A sort of free (jght ensppd, in whioh, however, the Wairarapa Rife 3 oame off very well. occupied .pretty 1 wefl the whole of that afternoon, and very little else was done.'' One or ! two of our , men were rather sickly, but a box of pills was forthcoming, and they were soon, all right again.' On. Saturday morning.. the firit regular drill took place, in" which the Wairarapa men, although' they, did hot dis tin« uiflh thernael vea,' wer o .cer tai illy. not > tlje worst oj|.'thj ground—a, certain crack I Wellington corp?.\being worse' iff t|}eji drill than .the ; .Maßterton_ Cadets. Or V Saturday .afternoon' a sort 'pi \- half holidayV and' the rten: indulged in i ; pletiaing thbhght^of.ayyioi t'to elabribat,

selves-consequently further leave was stopped. .However, later in the day the officers; relented, and a great many were allowed passes, The Wairarapa men were nearly all on guard, so that thoy were 1 ? out of it." Several of the men, without

leave (most of them Navals), stole y off and bought some fruit at, a farm a/ short distance from camp,- which' they V. stowed ,away, in their' jackets. On coming in these very apples -add pears were the cause of their detection. ...The

sentry was astonished to'see so 'maiiy corpulent men in the place ot those who certainly were not as bulky an hour or two before, and thfey.were at; once run in. Amongst them, was one Wairarapa man, but he was diamissed, jon-.account of-his youth and being;the onl£onej)f the corps concerned. The .others-were brought before a: court-martial,and escaped with a light punishment. 1 heard- that the-,officers of apples for a day or "two afteE punishment, however, was filly' made up for by the night attack; afternoon ammunition was served out MF[ all the men in camp, ind every prepa]# ' ration made, to give the enemy a warnr reception, It was generally undentood that' the camp would be attacked,towar?! morning, but at 10 o'clockjShots were fired at one end of the camp, and the tents were attacked by the Waimea ; Rifles. Immediately all was hurry-scurry.! The busjles from all parts of the 'camp v souttded the alarm, and aroused the men, the Wellington Navals" being the first to turn out and tackle the enemy.' They were quickly followed by the Wellington City Rifles, but the ..Guards were the last to turn out, and were mercilessly chaffed by the Navals for their., laziness. The admirers of the Guards defended them by Baying that the Navals had been, waiting, rifle in hand, for the bugle calf; but if this is true they deserve' great'credit for it, and is no excuse for the Guards. Meanwhile the enemy slowly retreated to the hills a short distance from the'camp, where they were covered by the Wairarapa Rifles, who were stationed ?! on the hill and who peppered, the defenders of the camp to : their hearts' content. The Artillery Boon came up with" their .field guns, and did dreadful damage amongst the enemy. .No wounded were brought into the camp, so it was supposed that the enemy had either carried theirs into the interior or dispatched them out i of their misery. The Navals loaded with marvellous rapidity, and to a man seemed to thoroughly enter into and enjoy the fun. By 12 o'clock all was quiet again, and nearly all lights out. ' The gallant defenders, of the camp went ' to bed satisfied that the enemy had been " "pasted" to such an extont that they ' wouldn't attempt another attack—and 1 neither did they.'During the nightiit I rained heavily,' but I think I 'am correct ' in aayins? that the tents withstood the ■ downpour well, only one or two of them leaking, and those very little;; Some of '• the Wairarapa men misconducted .them--1 selves about this time, and were placed under arrest. Amongst them was a sergeant, who was probably never nearer losing his stripes than on the occassion

rnferred to. Another one (a well-known Carterton settler) waa also kept in durance vile. He was brought into tea one even- • ing by three of the Wellington Guards in full uniform—overcoat, bearskin-hat, and with fixed bayonuts-who presented a most imposing and ferocious aspect. However, he got off, I believe, with litt|e or no punishment. Oti Sunday morning the Eev Mr Jones, of Nelson, formerW stationed in Masterton, preaches? a sermon in the camp, which was listened to with great attention. Nearly every man in the camp attended, and the musio was provided by the Guards! .and, City Kifles' bands', On Sunday afternoon, of course, nothing much was done, and most of the men employed themselves visiting the many farms in the neighborhood to get fruit, for which the district is celebrated. On Sunday night we had another sermon, but' it was "not well attended, and the minister might easily have employed his time hotter. Monday broke fine and clear, and at dawn every man was busily employed in cleaning hisjarms and accoutrements. In there was a shooting contest between the Wellington and Nelson Artillery at a target distant 2000 yards,, in,which the Wellington men had to play second fiddle. At about 11 o'clock people began to arrive from Nelson, and in a very short time there were about a thousand people on the ground. The Nelson College Cadets (of whom more anon) also arrived to-take part in the.sham fight. Shortly after dinner every man in the oamp turned out for the review, and the whole were formed. into one company under the oommand of Major Pitt., They marched to an adjacent paddock for the "Grand March Past," which consisted of the men marching past in battle array, while the three combined Wellington bands played " The British Grenadiers." Then came the sham fight. Space will not admit of a full description of it-suf-fice it to say that it was a grand success, and fully realised the expectations' of the most sanguine.As soon as the fight was over every tent in the camp'was struck. By the time this was finished and tea partaken of the train whipl} .wiuj to. popvey us tp Nelson on oqr way hoit)e was j}ue. AptiJingly the men were mustered for inspection before marching to the rajlway station. Before leaving, however, the Nelson College Cadets'—betweentwenty;' and thirty in nmmber—were' drilled by their instructor, at the request of the commanding officers', There cannot be the slightest doubt that were by far the bestdrilled corps on the ground—in'fact there was no other company fit.to compete with them, although one or two of them could not have been more than 12 or 13 years of age. They, moved almost-' as regularly as machinery, and with marvellous rapidity and ease. They were loudly cheered, as was their instructor, who certainly deserves great credit for the perfection to which he has brought his pupils. Just at this time it started raining in torrents/ arid we were marched to the station. The train not having arrived which was to take us to Nelson we had to stand for'oiter half qnKour ju f» drenching rain, which, to say the least" of it, fa? decidedly unpleasant, But '! It? a long' lane that has no turning,' 1 and we foqnd ourselves at last (after doing the 13 mjles,. v . from Brightwatw to Nelson in two holm, and twenty minutes) on. board the Hinemoa, We. Jeft Nelson about ten o'clock for Wellington, but this time the songir" dancing, niusie, &c,, were, conspicuous by their absence, and, the sea beiug rather rough, many of those on board (particularly the • Wai'rarapa men) fed the fishes, to alconsiderafyle .extent^ We. arrived in Wellington at 12 o'clock; on Tuesday, thus having a fow hours to spend in looking round the Empire City. A few members of the company stopped in Wellington tjll ; the ne?t gay, ln}t most pf p, 'ffeitfg i anxious 1 to fact;home,■,returned rby Mib i 3.30 train, after a trip 'which, it was'uni--1 versally admitted, wa's."one. ofv.the„ most i enjoyable ever trtade by 'iny of ua. Speaking generally, .the arrangements ! connected ,' with the fan i very satisfactory,\the only drawback being ■! the food; or^mon, strictly,,speaking,' the ; manner in itiwas..served,... Qn t|iq : first'day'lt fas' I 'not' fit 1 for'civilised pijjlji | ;and r i " t certainly .*as never,,aiiy^^ ! r .®.?P?P ( • •• / the eDcampment.waa-probaply one, of .the.

without leave was" run in" as soon as ho made his appearance. On one occasion a man came very near paying dear for not recognising the authority of the sentry, The Wellington Navals were on guard, and. a man attempted to pass one of thorn, refusing to give the countersign, " Halt, jrieud," said the sentry; but the "friend" didn't seem to hear, and was walking quietly away, when "If you don't stop I'll run you through," said the obnoxious sentry, and accordingly, the " friend" not halting, he proceeded to "run him through," and went about an inch i ito the seat of the mail's trousers, who, finding the point of the bayonet rather (harp, halted at once, and was promptly run in by the enraged sentry. I under»tMid lie now has a cushion on his chair. Another little incident took place, in which about twenty guileless innocents were imposed upon in a most outrageous manner. . Early on Monday morning a man was sent round, requesting the bands to each supply a cortain number of men for a special duty. About twenty memg'of the bands, thinking there wbb i fun on, cheerfully volunteered, and ng been placed under a sergeant were first, much to their surprise, inarched a mile or two from tho camp, and then brought back to within two hundred yards of it, and started pick-and-shovelling under tho Sub-Marine Engineers lam not aware whether any hard words were used on this occasion, but it is to be hoped that, after having heard two sermons preached on the previous day, the men for "special duty" were mild in their expressions of indignation. The Masterton Band did not play much while in camp, a 8 there were three other bands there, each numbering over twenty men. However, the former played once or twice, and were complimented by an officer of high standing on the sweetness, if not strength of their music. The Band, howiver, did much to enliven the journey to and from Wellington, and made the company much stronger, and it certainly was, comparatively Bpeaking, equal to any band thero. Neophyte