July 1. one may Youth and it would TEE an age-limit beyond which it would be impossible thoroughly to master the habit of a good, pay a the saddle. Primarily praction is essential, and to practise under skilled supervision leads to a ready acquirement of those many little points of horsemanship which reveal so plainly the good rider, and Shanghai offers every encouragement to those whose ambitions turn to the saddle Notwithstanding the healthy effect Race, Paper Hunt, and Polo Clubs. hi on the horsemanship of local resides considerable difficulty has been hitherto, in gaining sufficiency of recruits, to ride, for mounted branches of the 8.V.C.' The Light Horse appears to fare the best in this respect, st the expense, perhaps, of the Mounted In-Hfautry and Artillery, but since Mr. J. 0, Barnes has started his riding col the one-thing-needful as an adjunct to the 8. V, 0. has been supplied. Mr, Barnes has bad considerable experience in the regulars, and his compliance with the numerous requests to open the n with warm support from the 8. V.C., who readily al use of the' riding school on three mornings " week. Already " marked improvement ins be noticed in the has to be appealed to and relied upon when the saddlery does no! Gt or the hors is "of colour, With such special facilities to acquire horsemanship recruits for the. Mounted Infantry should be more easily obtained in the future, for the Light Horse will material for mounted service la questionable. whether the Mounted Infantry wi er appeal to the public fancy aa the Light, Horse does, unless some drastic changes are made in, the arms and equipment. One naturally sums up the possibilities and probabilities which attend service in the 8. V. C. before joining the Volunteers with the prospect of actual service
appeal in any marked degree to one' the toeal Mounted Infantry does not flay. Servize would, sotho extended beyond the borders of the Settlement, and for this purpose Mounted Infantry, armed as auch, would be word-bayoneta situation would change materially; but to do #0 would practically be to convert the Mounted Tofantry into Light Dragoons and, incidentally, to make it much more popular, In any circumstances: the sword-bayonet is peculiarly anitad to local ance, jard of bayonet. The sword bayonet
work, too, not to oppose cavalry, but avery useful weapon for mounted effective against dismounted men and all that could be desired against " mob; its chief attraction to the user, however, the fact that it renders the carbine effective and allows the revolver to be carried, and without either ewerd oF revolver mounted troops invariably appear at a disadvantage when called upon to face a mob.
July 4.
Some years ago the standard of shooting obtaining in the Shang! Volunteer Corps was very high. ied of slackness succeeded, during which " considerable reduction in the percentage of marksmen occurred, The deterioration was due, no doubt, to the casual interest in shooting taken by years, however, the focal staff hes made instructors. Daring the past two sterling efforts to improve the shooting of the Volunteers and very good results have been obtai Last year the task of selecting team to compete in the annual contest with the poli presented s difficulty, owing to the limited number of shots capable of upholding, worthily, the honour of the Corps. This year' didiculty was ox-ie too, but the cause was that so many in good form from whom to choose, The improvement was due in a largo mesure to the staff, for enthusiasm is highly contagious; and the ata had persuaded many volunteers, of indifferent shooting ability, to Shanghai Rifle Association during past year and many of these hitherto harmless shots improved rapidly with the extra practice gained in that way. The action of the stof, bower: of been restricted to standard of shooting among number of volantecrs, for introduction of the Miniature rit which was first used by the 8. V. C. on May 25 last, special instruction was commenced for recruits and the erate while hopeless shots. Six of the small rifles were obtained and each woak-day practice is held in the Town Hall at 6 a.m. So far over 100 hav tended the class and as soon as satisfactory improvement is discerned © course on the Rifle Range follows, and if that is not satisfactory secondary course with the Minigture is provided; but, to date, in only one instance has the preliminary instruction not proved suffclent.
The suggestion to form a Ladies' Rifle Club has been made on several oocasions and if that were done this excelent little rifle would suit admirably for practice, The 8. R, A, already possesses a fow lady-members and if their good examples were followed to avy. extent a Ladies' Club would easily come into existence; its members in many instances would require instruction, and doubtless the services of a member of or via Tube Gallery, which could be erected on the range for very little cost, and the facilities offered to learn to shoot would be very complete in Shanghai.
The Miniature rifle, manufactured the British Small Orme Ca., is no doubt much superior to the Merrie tube; it is more accurate and vastly leheaper. The cost of 1,000 rounds is 1s. 4d., while 100 rounds for the Morris The Miniature is being ry great extent at Home paratively new ides the following details [should be of interest "Phe breech mechanism and working of the bolt is substantially the same as that of the ordinary service rifle. The stook is detached from the barrel and action the screw beneath the rear jond of th The safety bolt, by means of an eccentric end, locks the fung pin in the cocked position and eerste cee? ace i ving " slight do
values of Ie four inches in length; it has
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.