1592
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 65

217. The value of all stores issued to Volunteers on payment must be paid for in advance in cash or by post-office order

MUSKETRY INSTRUCTIONS.

218. Musketry instruction will be under the supervision of the Musketry Instructor or a member of the permanent staff.

219. Class-firing must be at all times under the superintendence of either a member of the Permanent Staff or the Officer Commanding the Company, who will sign registers on the ground and be responsible that the regulations are strictly adhered to.

220. Each Volunteer will be required to fire annually forty rounds in class-firing and, where practicable, twenty in volley-firing and skirmishing. Where it is not practicable to fire the latter the last twenty rounds will be expended in class-firing.

221. To enable any Volunteer to qualify for capitation he must, as far as target practice is concerned, have fulfilled the following conditions, viz. :

(a.) The trained Volunteer, by firing 60 rounds of ball ammunition and passing into or firing in the second class.

(b.) The Recruit, by firing 60 rounds of ball ammunition and passing into or firing in the second class.

222. No Volunteer shall be eligible to fire in the second class until he shall have passed out of the third class under the new regulations.

223. The amount granted by the Government for prizes will be distributed in such sums as shall be notified by the Defence Minister each year, according to the average shooting of each entire corps computed decimally from the returns, and will not be given to the best individual shots in the Volunteer Force.

224. No corps shall be entitled to receive a prize in the musketry competition unless at least the minimum strength of the corps, as laid down in paragraph 8, has competed.

225. The District Adjutant and District Musketry Instructor (when there is one) are responsible for the shooting of the Volunteers being carried out in accordance with the Rifle Exercises and Musketry Instruction for the Army, except where they are altered by instructions from the Defence Office.

226. Targets will be supplied to Officers Commanding Districts on requisition for use of corps.

227. Corps, whether armed with the long or short rifle, to adopt the drill for the short rifle.

N.B.—A new course of target practice similar to that lately ordered for the Volunteer Force in England will be brought into force for the year 1887, but the number of points required to pass into the second class has been largely reduced, but will hereafter be gradually increased as the shooting improves until the English standard is reached.

PRECAUTIONS AT RIFLE PRACTICE.

228. In order to provide for the safety of the public, indiscriminate private practice at Volunteer rifle ranges shall not be permitted. All practice should be so regulated as to insure the presence of an officer or a non-commissioned officer, who will be in charge of the firing party, and held responsible for enforcing strict regularity and discipline.

229. None but experienced persons shall be employed as markers at rifle ranges.

230. The officer or non-commissioned officer in charge of the firing point must see that the special rules and regulations of rifle ranges are carried out, provided they be not inconsistent with the above. When practicable, at all class-firing, if the men of only one corps are firing, a member of another corps will be in the marker’s butt during the whole time of firing.

231. Officers in charge of rifle ranges shall afford facilities for target practice to Cadet Corps, subject to such orders as may be issued from time to time.

ACTUAL SERVICE.

232. In case of actual or apprehended invasion of any part of New Zealand, or other emergency proclaimed by the Governor, Volunteer corps may be assembled for actual military service, and, whenever they are so assembled, they will be liable to serve in any part of New Zealand.

CORRESPONDENCE.

233. All official correspondence from Volunteer corps shall proceed from the Officer Commanding, or pass through him, except as provided for in paragraph 238.

234. If correspondence is intended for the consideration of the Government it should be addressed to the Officer Commanding the District, or Adjutant of the permanent staff, and each letter must be confined to one subject only.

DISBANDMENT OF CORPS.

235. When a Volunteer corps is about to be disbanded, the Officer in Command of the District will make immediate arrangements for the return to store of all arms, accoutrements, and Government property on issue, and for the payment of the cost of such articles as may be deficient, and, on his report that this has been done, the assent of His Excellency the Governor will be obtained for the disbandment of the corps.

NAVAL ARTILLERY VOLUNTEERS.

236. At least one-third of the members of these corps should have served afloat either as seamen, watermen, fishermen, or boatmen, or in some occupation directly connected with shipping.

237. In the first month in each Volunteer year Officers Commanding Corps will forward to Officers in Command of Districts a report upon the state of the boats on issue to or in possession of the corps, and the Officer in Command of the District will, after a personal examination of the boats in question, forward the report (with any remarks he may have to make thereon) to the Defence Office.

ARTILLERY VOLUNTEERS.

238. Correspondence relative to appointments, promotions, and resignation of officers, and to the interior management of batteries as regards purely artillery matters, is to be forwarded direct by Commanding Officers of Brigades to the Defence Office.

239. Correspondence on local matters, requisitions for ammunition, capitation rolls, parade states, &c., to be sent to Defence Office through Officers Commanding Districts.

240. All deficiencies, damages, or losses of ordnance stores on issue to a battery, are to be reported at once, otherwise the cost of the articles will be charged against the capitation of the battery.

241. When ordnance stores from fair wear and tear require to be replaced they must be returned to store, or otherwise disposed of (as may be ordered), before a fresh supply is issued.

242. No salute is to be fired by the members of any battery of Artillery Volunteers, as such, without proper authority having been previously obtained for such salute from the Officer Commanding the District.

NON-EFFICIENT MEMBERS.

243. Any member of a Volunteer corps, who by reason of repeated absence from parade drills is returned as a “non-efficient” for any Volunteer year, may, under clause 109 of “The Defence Act, 1886,” in addition to any fines inflicted for such absence, be fined a sum equal to the amount of capitation he could have earned, and which amount is to be paid in to the credit of the funds of the corps he is serving in.

244. Officers Commanding Corps will, on the last day of each quarter, furnish to Officers in Command of Districts a return (Form V.-9) of all fines inflicted, recovered, or remitted during the quarter.

245. In the event of there being any outstanding fines, the Officer Commanding the District will, after due inquiry, cause them to be remitted, or direct proceedings to be taken, as the case may be, by the Officer in Command of the Corps for the recovery of the same.

246. Officers Commanding Districts are strictly enjoined to see that this return is regularly furnished, and that all fines not remitted and unpaid are, in justice to other members of the corps, duly recovered.

247. Officers who have, in accordance with paragraph 231 of the Volunteer regulations of 1883, retired with the rank of Major on the unattached list, shall not, on resuming active service, be deemed to hold any rank other than that to which they may be elected by their company, unless such officer shall have been called from his retirement by the Governor to undertake any special duty.

CADET CORPS.

248. The services of Cadet Corps will be permitted under the following conditions :

(a.) Arms and accoutrements, if in store, will be issued for drill purposes, and a proportion of Snider carbines will be granted for target practice if required.

(b.) Where target practice is carried out an annual allowance of twenty-five rounds of ball ammunition will be granted.

(c.) A half-yearly return of arms and accoutrements is to be furnished to the Defence Storekeeper on whose books they appear.

(d.) The arms on issue are to be kept in arm-racks in a safe and dry place, within the precincts of schools or in such places as may be appointed by the Officer Commanding the District, and are not to be permitted to be taken home by the Cadets.

(e.) The services of Drill Instructors will be available for the instruction of Cadets, provided other military duties are not interfered with.

249. Cadet Corps which have been authorized by the Defence Minister are entitled to any capitation voted by Parliament as under :

(a.) Lads of thirteen years and upwards to eighteen years.

(b.) No corps can draw capitation for more than sixty cadets nor for less than thirty.

(c.) No corps can draw capitation until it has been reported favourably on by the Officer Commanding the District