H.—l2

1886. NEW ZEALAND.

THE OAMARU ENCAMPMENT (REPORT ON), BY SIR G. S. WHITMORE, COMMANDER OF THE FORCES.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Commander of the Colonial Forces to the Hon. the Minister of Defence. Sib,— Defence Office, Wellington, Ist May, 1886. I have the honour to report, for your information, that the camp of exercise at Oamaru was successfully carried out between the 23rd and 26th ultimo; and that the Volunteers of all ranks and arms present amounted to 2,551 men and officers, with 120 Oamaru cadets. It was your wish to make this concentration of Volunteers a test of the efficiency of the several district organizations in bringing reinforcements to the assistance of any unfortified spot on the coast threatened by hostile invasion, in order that, having seen how readily it could be accomplished, such places would be encouraged to make a vigorous resistance under such circumstances. Therefore the Public Works Department was moved to instruct the several Traffic Managers along the line to comply with the requisitions of the several District Commanding Officers, placing these latter in the positions which they must have occupied as regards the public railways in case of actual war. The successful manner in which the troops arrived at the appointed rendezvous was therefore carried out independently by these officers, without any interference on my part, and the discipline —which for a citizen force was remarkable, both in going and returning—is wholly due to their exertions. The sole order issued by me to all of them was to bring their forces to Oamaru Racecourse before 1 p.m on Friday, the 23rd. It is only just here to say that the Public Works Department most liberally and ably carried out all that was asked of them by the Volunteer commanding officers, notwithstanding the unusual strain upon it caused by the enormous influx of visitors going to see the camp manoeuvres, by the Christchurch races, and by the excursions usual during the Easter holidays. Mr. Crombie, of Oamaru, had immense trouble to accommodate so many passengers, but by great exertions enabled all the detachments of the force to get back to their homes in good time, though, at the very end, some of the Canterbury force had to return by trucks much less comfortable than the second-class carriages by which they had arrived, but which had been unavoidably withdrawn for the Christchurch races. These Volunteers, however, though uncomfortable during the night journey, after a hard day, made no complaint. By Friday afternoon the whole force was at the camp. All the tents in the colony barely sufficed for Wanganui and Oamaru, but every one on hand was sent to one or the other. I was aware that the number sent to Oamaru was barely all that we required, but the Eacecourse Committee placed part of their grand stand at our disposal after 5 p.m. on the 23rd, to accommodate the balance of the force. As soon as the last arrivals could occupy the buildings all were under good cover, but for an hour or more one or two hundred of them had to pile arms and wait, as, unfortunately, the races were not quite over. The inconvenience was, however, more apparent than real, for on the following morning, when the several corps settled down, two bell tents and a large one lent by the Caledonian Society were still unoccupied. The contractor carried out his duties fairly well, and, though I did hear that the tea and coffee were, at Oamaru as at Wanganui, inferior, still the provisions as a whole were good, and no complaints were made. Admiral Scott, E.N., arrived on the 22nd, and in conjunction with him the plans for the Saturday land and sea operations were completed. The Union Company generously lent two of their fleet, and the Harbour Board of Dunedin two of their launches, one of which escorted the torpedo boat from Port Chalmers, arriving in good time on Friday, steered by Captain Goldie, of the Port Chalmers Naval Volunteers—the petty officer (Grant) of the boat having been wrecked in the steamer " Taiaroa." During the night of the 22nd the " Hinemoa " arrived with the Napier 6-lb. breech-loading guns, the Torpedo Corps, Petone Navals, and the ammunition. Lieutenant Lodder and three of the Torpedo Corps came two days sooner, with me, in the " Wanaka " steamer, bringing the explosives and torpedo appliances which it had been intended to send by the Government launch "Ellen Ballance."