Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

RIFLE CLUB MOVEMENT.
Tho statement made last week by Senator
Ewing- regarding tlje poor support accord-
ed the rifle shooting movement' In this
State has been adversely.criticised by lead-
ing rifle shots of the metropolis. An exe-
cutive memb.er of the council of the N.R.A.,
in speuklng'on the subject, said:
'.In his remarks Senator Ewing endeav-
ours to transfer to otile}'.' shoulders tho
blaine for the partial 'failure of the rifle
club-system in. New South Wales', and
suys :''Thc people.should, be 'impressed at
ali times', with the importance of rifle
clubs.' It is only'reasonable to ask whose
duty it is to impress matters of such vital
imp'ort'uncu on tho people. Senator Ew-
ing surely dot« not mean to say . that the
formation of rifle clubs is allowed to drift
along without any direction as tb facilities
offered for this purpose. The .Minister! ad-
vises all who carry a rifle to join a rifle
club, ily this remark' it would 'appear
that the official opinion is that large num-
bers of men are in possession of rifles, who'
aro not connected with clubs or regiments.
Such, however, is far from being the case,
nnd when it is pointed out that ^tho only
rifle worth shooting with is doled out to
members of rifle clubs at the rate of 1 to
I every 10 members, that is, unless such
members are prepared to purchase their
own weapons, it will be seen at a glance
what the principal reason is .for thc num-
bers advancing so slowly. .
..The total number of niemberb of rifle
clubs in .Now South Wales ls about 0000.
Mr.. towing says this number-is ridiculously
small. He says nothing,?. however,'"about'
I tho 000 -rifles which the Government / has
provided to ' arm those' «000 men with,
and his opinion on that point would bc of
general interest. .Members of rifle clube
who desire to attain any : standard of- effi-
ciency in rille shooting must provide them-
selves . with a rifle at a cost ol' £8 lös 9d;
t hey must purchase ammunition at the rat«
ol' Od per packet of 10 rounds, after the
free issue of 2C>0 is exhausted, and as this
will, at a moderate estimate, only see
them through about , half tho year, they
must purchase a similar quantity, which
-will cost them at least 12s Od. Most
members the» prefer to shpot in uniform,
which,' by tho way.' is optional. This item
will run thom into about £2. Subscrip-
tion nod entry to. club compétitions will
then account for another pound per year.,
while sundry other expenses, such as tram
fares to rille ranges, etc., make up a fur-
ther respectable total, which in the aggre-
gate brings the cost, td tho individual who
desires to perfect himsulf in tho art of ri-
fle shooting for tho defence of his country
about three or four times the amount per
head of the sum which thc Government so
generously provides for rifle clubs. Given
gn-eater facilities, viz., freo rifles, more
range acL-ommodntion, and. a liberal sup-
ply of .cheap ammunition,1'.' the numbers'
would, before many years- have passed,
reach ' .30,000. Put this body of men
through an annual course of field training"
extending over, say, six parades per year,
ns was done under the State management,
nnd ought never to have been abolished,
then the country would ? have a fighting
force . second ito none,, nt a cost which
would lie considerably lower per head than
tho .cost of volunteer regiments."
$