Another difficulty for the Government has arisen out of the adoption of the new short rifle with which it is proposed to arm infantry and cavalry at a cost of something like three millions sterling. Its inferiority or superiority over the old weapon is of course a matter for expert opinion; but although Earl Roberts brought forward some forcible arguments in support of the change, it really does seem to have been determined on without adequate tests. Seven crack shots—all international marksmen—have carefully tested the new rifle and unanimously declared it inferior in every respect to the old longer-barrelled weapon. This of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.