The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, MAY 11, 1885. ELECTION OF VOLUNTEER OFFICERS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1987, 11 May 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, MAY 11, 1885. ELECTION OF VOLUNTEER OFFICERS.

It seems to us that. Volunteers /jo ;iot understand the manner in which tiiejr officers are supposed to be appointed, and that the Defence Department either knows as little about the matter, or does »o.t Cfiie. The plan which is almost invariably adopted is this The members of tlio ccrpt! hold a meeting, where candidates; are duly proposed and seconded. The olHcer commanding, at another meeting, takes the sense of the company, either by a show of liand.c or some other means, and forwards the. result to (ij)e Defence Department, and if the highest oil the poll has received not less than one-half of th» votes of the company, he is duly appointed, Now, according to the regulations, this is quite wrong. It is very clearly provided that the officer commanding shall nominate such member:! as he may think proper. He'shall then submit ihc names to tlie efficient member of the corps, and if any candidate wipe the requisite number of votes, he must tfoe# forward his name, to the Defence Departnjenf for approval. No doubt it appears arbitnipv j to vest the power of selecting candidates in one officer of the corps, and we do not desire to defend the Volunteer Regulations on the [joint, All we wish to do at present is to show that they have pot been complied with, The MastertP# jiifies, for instance, have come to » jjeftcjlofk over the election ot a lieutenw, i/jt #J| probability through not following tije regulations. The officer commanding, though lie has power to select more than one candidate, would most certainly Jsvo limited himself to a smaller number, pd tlieie would thus have lwen fl fair change the requisite nmnher of votes being rm?fded fpr any one aspirant,