382
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 16

The maximum strength of all branches of the service
at the four centres will be as follows :—

District. | Mounted Corps. | Naval | Field | Engineer | Rifle | Garrison | Total
| | Artillery | Artillery | | | Bands. |
| No. | Strength. | No. | Strength. | No. | Strength. | No. | Strength. | No. | Strength. | No. | Strength. | No. | Strength.
Auckland ... | 1 | 63 | 3 | 312 | 1 | 63 | 1 | 63 | 4 | 252 | 1 | 26 | 11 | 779
Wellington ... | 1 | 63 | 3 | 312 | 1 | 63 | 1 | 63 | 4 | 252 | 1 | 26 | 11 | 779
Christchurch (in- | 1 | 63 | 3 | 312 | 1 | 63 | 1 | 63 | 4 | 252 | 1 | 26 | 11 | 779
cluding Lyttel- | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
ton) | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Dunedin (includ- | 1 | 63 | 3 | 312 | 1 | 63 | 1 | 63 | 4 | 252 | 1 | 26 | 11 | 779
ing Port Chal- | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
mers) | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Total ... | 4 | 252 | 12 | 1,248 | 4 | 252 | 4 | 252 | 16 | 1,008 | 4 | 104 | 44 | 3,116

9. Any corps will be entitled to an Honorary Surgeon and
   an Honorary Chaplain. Mounted corps will be entitled to an
   Honorary Veterinary Surgeon.

CORPS.

"Volunteer corps" includes any body of Naval Artillery and
of Cavalry, any battery of Artillery, any company of Engineers,
Mounted Rifles, and Rifles, and any body of the Reserve as
organized under these Regulations. All these corps except the
Reserve corps will be entitled to capitation under the prescribed
conditions.

PRECEDENCE.

10. The Volunteer Force shall consist of the following dif-
    ferent arms, which will rank in the order named :—
    Naval Artillery Volunteers.
    Cavalry and Mounted Rifles Volunteers, when dis-
    mounted.
    Artillery Volunteers.
    Engineer Volunteers.
    Rifle Volunteers.
    Cavalry, Field Artillery, and Mounted Rifles (when
    mounted) take precedence of all other arms of the
    service.

11. Relative precedence of corps of the same arm shall be
    determined by the date on which the Governor accepts their
    services.

12. The relative precedence of officers of the entire Volun-
    teer Force shall be determined solely by the ranks and dates of
    commissions in that Force.

13. An officer holding a substantive commission takes
    precedence of all officers holding acting appointments in the
    same rank. Acting officers take rank among themselves accord-
    ing to the dates of their acting appointments.

14. Lieutenant-Commanders of Naval Artillery rank as
    Captains in other corps according to dates of commissions.
    Lieutenants of Naval Artillery rank as Lieutenants of other
    corps according to dates of commissions.

COMMANDER OF THE FORCES.

15. When the office of the Commander of the Forces is
    vacant, the duties laid down in these regulations for that
    officer shall be performed by the Under-Secretary for Defence.

OFFICER APPOINTED TO INSPECT VOLUNTEERS.

16. Any officer appointed for the purpose of inspection
    may once in each year order a parade of any Volunteer corps
    for inspection, and any officer or Volunteer who absents him-
    self from such parade, without permission of the officer order-
    ing the same or reasonable excuse, of which such Inspecting
    Officer shall be the judge, is liable to the penalty provided in
    section 52 of the Defence Act.

17. In the event of an officer or Volunteer being prevented
    from attending the parade by sickness, the fine may be remitted
    on the production of a certificate to that effect, duly certified
    to by a medical man.

18. The Inspecting Officer, when making his official inspec-
    tion, shall be recognised as the senior officer at all parades he
    may attend.

19. The Inspecting Officer's duties are limited to inspections,
    but he shall have power at any time to order the production of
    all Government properties, stores, &c., in possession of a corps,
    and to examine all books and other official documents in use
    or authorised by these regulations.

20. On notification from the Inspecting Officer, the Officer
    Commanding the District will call such parades as may be
    required by him.

OFFICERS IN COMMAND OF DISTRICTS.

21. Officers in command of districts will reside at the head-
    quarters of their districts, and are responsible for the main-
    tenance of proper order and discipline in the Force under
    their command, the accuracy of all returns rendered or called
    for, the conduct of all correspondence in connection with the
    several corps in their command, and will see that the non-
    commissioned officers of the Permanent Staff efficiently and
    faithfully perform their various duties.

22. Correspondence from corps with the Defence Office must
    be forwarded through the Officer Commanding the District, and
    all communications will be replied to through the same channel.

23. All circulars, orders, and instructions emanating from
    the Defence Office are to be promulgated to corps immediately
    on receipt of the same by a district order or such other means
    as, under local circumstances, may prove most convenient and
    expeditious.

24. All correspondence between Officers Commanding Corps
    and Officers Commanding Districts must be direct, and signed
    by the Officer Commanding the Corps.

25. In the absence of the Officer Commanding the District,
    the senior combatant officer resident at head-quarters, unless
    otherwise ordered, will assume the command, and perform all
    duties attached to that office.

26. Officers Commanding Districts will, before the end of
    the first month of each Volunteer year, forward a report for the
    previous year on the Volunteers of their district to the Defence
    Office, in which the efficiency of each corps and of the officers
    and non-commissioned officers is to be specially dealt with.
    The Volunteer year is the year beginning on the first day of
    March and ending on the last day of February.

27. The District Commanding Officer shall have access to
    the muster-rolls and other official documents of all corps in his
    district, and shall keep a muster-roll of each corps himself.

28. The District Commanding Officer will prepare and fur-
    nish all returns required by the Defence Office.

29. The District Commanding Officer is responsible for the
    correctness of all returns and documents which pass through
    his office.

30. The offices, books, and accounts of the District Command-
    ing Officer will be open at all times to the inspection of the officer
    appointed for that purpose.

31. District Commanding Officers will be held responsible
    that no arrear is suffered to occur in the work of their offices,
    and that their books are posted up regularly, so that they may
    at all times be ready for inspection.

32. The District Commanding Officer will visit corps and
    practice ranges periodically.

33. The District Commanding Officer will, when necessary,
    perform the duties of Paymaster.

34. As Acting-Paymaster it will be the District Commanding
    Officer's duty to exercise a special supervision over all claims
    submitted against the Government, and to the settlement of
    all claims on behalf of corps in his district; and to watch
    over the issue and return of all stores, and their proper treat-
    ment and preservation.

35. When a District Commanding Officer is transferred from
    one district to another, he will retain in the general service
    the date of his first appointment to the staff.

36. In the event of a District Commanding Officer being
    absent on leave at the date on which returns are due in the
    Defence Office, they should be signed by the officer who is
    performing his duties.

37. The paid staff non-commissioned officers of each district
    will be under the orders and supervision of the District
    Commanding Officer.

OFFICERS.

38. The commissioned officers of the Volunteer Force shall
    be appointed by the Governor. All proposed appointments,
    promotions, and resignations of commissions of officers must be
    submitted to the Defence Minister for approval.

39. All appointments, promotions, resignations, and dis-
    missals of commissioned officers shall be inserted in the Gazette,
    and resignations and dismissals shall, unless notified to the
    contrary, be held to mean absolute withdrawal from the Volun-
    teer force.

40. On forwarding an application for the formation of a
    corps or company, the senior officer of the branch of the
    service of the proposed new corps will satisfy himself that the
    officers indicated in the application are fit and proper persons
    for receiving Her Majesty's commission, and will certify to this
    effect in forwarding the same to the Officer Commanding the
    District, who will indorse the certificate if he approves. The
    Commander of the Forces will, if he is satisfied, make a re-
    commendation to the Defence Minister, and with his approval
    will appoint the gentlemen as acting officers to the proposed
    corps.

41. Acting officers must, within six months of such appoint-
    ment, pass the prescribed examination. Failure to do so will
    entail the cancelling of an acting appointment, but on the
    recommendation of the Officer Commanding the District a fresh
    acting appointment may be made for three months only.