VOLUNTEER FIELD DAY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 858, 29 August 1881, Page 2

VOLUNTEER FIELD DAY.

The second combined parade of the three companies of volunteers.in the Wairarapa took place in Mr Drummoiid's paddock on Saturday. Rain had been falling very heavily all Friday and early in the morning, and fears were entertained/ that the review would -be.jHtvenieV by the : weather'; 'but- towards 12 o'clock on Saturday-the sun 'slowly conquered the fain, and during the afternoon shoe* forth in all bis glory.—The' fl g: sembly wa.B more .thaniusually.impovtant, as; the .officer commanding/ tM district (Lieut,-Colonel Pearce)-was: coming-rig to inspect the various companies first tiino, From this circumstance a full muster was expected, but each.corps was below its!strength—Carterton not Beading'half its men, the Masterton Cadets being just as short. Thore is an excuse for the lads, as they do not see the force of turniug out to a review without arms,, and there are only about 12 carbines for the whole corps. For the Carterton men there is no such exouss. They have had the best of arms and accoutrements, and every encouragement to become profij cient in their use, and yet they made, both on this and the last occasion! the poorest display both in number and drill of any corps on the ground. If they intend to continue as Volunteers they certainly should devote a little time to learning their duties. The whole of the corps assembled in front of the Town Hall and fell in, The first skb> mish of the day took place here between an old soldier, Mr Petor.Doylo and .the. police. Hewaß considerably ''''elevated," and seemed greatly tickled at the soldierly appearance of the Volunteers. His language being more forcible than polite, he was seized by the guardian of the peace, and after making'that resistance which would be expected from an old campaigner, he was successfully ran in. This little episode greatly relieved the monotony of waiting for the traiu, whioh was. rather late, and brought'several Ureytown and Carterton Volunteers. There were between throe and four bun" dred- spectators on the ground, including a large number of ladies. The companies occupied positions according to r seniority of service.. Greytown No 1 (and we might add Al) brought 31 to the field, commanded by Lieut. Cameron and Sub-Lieut. Avery, Non-commissioned officers—Color-Sergt. Hamilton, Sergts Maguire, Loasby and Webster, Corporal Trotman and YV. Maxton, Band-Sorgt. F. Maxton. No 2 Company (Masterton). 42 members of this company appeared, commanded by Captain Ruck, Lieutenant Wyllie, and D,Dpna)d| noncommissioned offices. - Color-Sergeant Gyiestpne, Sergt. J. Williams, D. Pixpn, Corporal Dalryinpie, Baud-BergeaM Warner, PvumrMajor Rollands, The Cadets (No i Company), under Lieut, Thompson ant] Sub-Lieutenant Wilton, numbered 22, all iold v Masterton thug, contributing 64 to the total force. No 8, Company (Carterton) mustered, 20. com* : mandedhy Captain Snpdgrass and Lieut, T. Bennett, Sprgt-.Major. 801 lof W-. lin,gton was ip attendance as orderly to (Jolonel Pearce. After being formed into, battalion, the corps, headed by the Mas,, terton Band, marched down' to the stores, and were served with 20 rounds of ammunition per njaii, and, then Ie(l tp jfye ■ field of operations, where after a \ifttle~ preliminary drill they presented arms, ifl Cplpjaj Peawie, "laying' it ppfl Save slre Qupen.' Eapli'cpnipaiyy was, then carefully inspected, and -bore/thg scrutiny well, the Cplonol appearing to, bo quite satisfied wjth -the. condition of the hien, arms',' and accoutrements. Hg has a. very quick eye fpr the lpast sloyen : liness, a Laudkerchjef peeping putfrpm, $ . tunic or a pqucii awry aj once cabling his attention, but we-were pleased, to, notice he had but liftlp to note in tins way. ; He was dissatisfied with smajl nujjy« her of Cadets qq thegrpuqd, and pp. (3ap,v tail) Ruck pointmg put (he diflipulty they were under, in, having sp small a/supply of arms, promised tp sepd up anptjiep dpzoq parbines, Aftar % inspection ft very crpdjtablp march-past took place, most pf the mep stepping steadily Pd well together, The'march past at the double, however, was somewhat irregular in execution, After ro-fprrning into hue t-lie men were . dismissed for refreshments, On falling in again, tho '- : DAYONET COSIEST . was ordered to take place, and ten men of each corps stepped out to compete. The Masterton men had resolved to perform in line, but Greytown objected to tills, ap t]iey had been drilled for the oxbrolde'' k { - ffli; But on toe Cp]onej •giviligChisl' order/for 'the beiii line, ■•'■■' :' :! I L.' ,:: 11 .!l'. gave way apd led off. With the excep; tiori' of-two slight'blunders', theyVepi tlpiigl) 't)io w|iplp exercise 'in splendlft s fyjei ' W to" VPfPK very gpp(l, flieip points pf a firm ana depided pharapteß, fheir com'rnapd pf the Weapon PPffopti Thp ' - , * , ■MABTBMONTBAM then commenced,, but one of them (Cor-., poral Dalryrnpie) evidently got a" bad start," and was apparently not well up in the exercise, for his strange guards, ei; traqr|inar j points, and groia'sque'jijtijiidlis conviilsedi'the'-onlookers,' nhfl tlurneijttil efforts of{|)«i infp ntlipnlpr, The effpdj; was that thpiigh nearlyali the rut kept good time, and had good command of the rifle, there wore always to be seen 'at leait three swords at point, while tho others were at guard, the men ; being too disgusted, tp be caipjul pjj |Jij§" Bubjejjt.- iphejle ig finottier. top idh behalf pf Mastfiitpn',' fli'at $ that (hjy qaye only t»4 ijie Spider riflei" and sword"bfryofoe'ts about a fortnight, -

,\ '.; ' OARTERTOiJ • went through their exercise fairly. They . made a few blunders, their time was not good, they were rather alovr, and their ppiuts not of that decided character Wquld PR napaw/tp pierpe' an' and yet enable the pointer to etand firm' on hirown feet,' ■'■ •' r - - " - '•'■'' • .The result of •the contest was in favor of (Jreytown, and the members are unanimous in their opinion that they owe'their position to' 1 the great pains 1 taken them by'ColuivSjrgt, HanuHon, fit fhife v corp», who'haS) aiuoe ii'wag established} taken the greatest interest in it, a'rid being a thorough'enthusiast in : the mailer of drill and discipline, 'has devoted'much time to making his comraclcs as prpflci6"nt at himself He inay well b'9 proud of'his work."" " :|i ' "' : "I 1 - ,M > hi Ca'rterton men have also had good instruction, and it they devote a little attention to thii branch' of their dijjj. will hot'be far behind in otner "compel ' tions

Major Smith, Sergt-Major Bell, and Mr Claxton acted as referees in the contest. After a little nnjnteresflna PgIRUKHINg, whicl> consisted of wasting powder shoott ing at the bush and a little white dog which appeared muoh interested in the proceedings, and kept dodging about in -front..of,the. riflemen., Qolonel.Pearce : then raade.a short •";:'• '' : "-;'r, '".". :l : "'.;• :L ■ . ; ..;,' ''ADDRESS " ■..,';■;,;:,' ■■ I:;-'! to'the officers arid men. 1 He was very glad ofthiropportunityof ■.. : . .various corps' in the. Wairarapa,' and•,. "■' ;7 j elapsi- .': J before 'he agaiii came.up., v He;'had,ex- -j| "pected to see a larger • : nuinbei'oh : parade. M They appeared to be fairly drilled, arid to' W have benefited efforts of tbe|in : ;,';^H

Itructor, but had yet a great deal to learn. ./' f»s oflicera should insist upon strict discipline on parade, which, he thought the men themselves would appreciate more than a lax Byetem. He regretted the Ihiall number of uteri present, especially with regard to the Carterton corps. He .had been told that Saturday was an awk- \ ward day. through tradesmen being n.ore M busy upon that than any other but when men became Volunteers they should be prepared to make some alight sacrifice of personal convenience occasionally. He alluded to the difficulties Volunteers had ' focently to contond with as regarded capi- \ Station, and stated the Government inr tn oncourago the service, and would appoint an officer to consider the : : wholo Volunteer question, and reorganise the force, A sufficient sum had been placed on tho estimates for capitation for the whole of the Volunteers in the colony, but how it would bo distributed he waß not aware. Ho quite recognised that people who lived in tho country, and had , j no drill'sheds, or any of the facilities of City Volunteers, could not be expoctod to be so well up in their drill as town corps, but ho would impress upon them tho importance of regular attendance at drill, as if a lar»e number ot a company were efficient, a few non-efficients would spoil the good work of the rest. Ho hoped on his next visit to seo a much larger number present, and a still further improvement in their training. He also said that officers should not depend upon the drill Instructor so much, for although that gentleman (Sergt-Major Bezar) was ■ thoroughly efficient, on oocaiions like the present, the duties which he had to perform should be executed by the officers themselves, and ho should see at parades that they wore up in their work. Captain Ruck thanked the Colonel for '. coming up to inspect the corps of the district, and for the instructive remarks he had addressed to them, He asked him to say a few words as to the bayonet competition, The Colonel then announced that the Greytown men ware the beat at the competition, Carterton second, He thought these competitions should be encouraged and installed the first bayonet charge ever mado by volunteers, which was at tho Cape, and actually won tho day. Shooting should also be encouraged, audhe instanced the Beers who were so succesful in the recent campaign through their thorough knowledge of this art. To encourage this subject he would give three prizes for the highest aggregate scores made at three conttsts at 2, 4, and 600 . yards, to be fired on each company's own ground. The prizes to be J3, £2, and £l. He said the cadets drilled uncommonly well, and would see that they had moro carbines so as to encourage them to encourage them to practise, and become good shots. In conclusion he said that each corps should number at least 50 men, and the Government expected them all to be on parade occasionally at lonet, otherwise they would be disbauded. On occasions like the picsenteach oneabsent washable tc a fine of £b. Captain Ruck thanked the Colonel for offering the prizes, and the men gave him ■ • three cheers, Colonel Pearce thanked them for their heartiness, and hoped they would take i what he said iu the manner in which he i intended it. After being put through thoyjajonet exercise by Color Sergt Girdlestuno, tho oorps were marched up to theT own Hall and dismissed. The next review takes place at Greytown iu three months' time. Mr Wagg, of the Prince of Wales Hotel, acted as caterer on the ground, and supplied the hungry soldiers with liouids l\nd solids, while at another stand fruit paujd be obtained by those who desired it,