The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1885-02-24 00:00:00

VOLUNTEER DI VSEIL AT TIIE

EXCHANGE.

Thi4 annual convivial gathering wax held on :gouda I
evening, and wa, a highly plea. km gathernr.r. Two.,
were nearly :NM er4,111.1 prete•llt inlui.liui lo
lunteer,‘ The C inn Eh %age wa,
decorated Mr. I.f the Or..wn pro% Wel in
excellent Ppre.ul. The chair WA+ tiken by Captain 11.
W. nawlina, and the otli,er,, in-event were Lieut.
Lull. Lieut. Thareton, Surgeon.Nlaior Long. awl
Acting ..targeon Parkinwm. The non c, •,l
officer', prument included Sergeanit•liiAnieb,r Ilnant
Colonr-Sergeant Garland. S •rgeaut Fon,. S-rireant
NYallingford, Sergeant Girl...et, .-erg...itit K inn,l.lll.
IfolniLld-ergeaut St inley Itnyter, and :- ergea 'it •
major Stride, of the Whohorue Tr 0.9111 4.1 th.• .t
Yeomanry Regiment. Ann nag the ve-itor,, were air.
Pitontagu Gun-al, Ur G II ,wl. T
11. Rawlinv, 11. W. Bilk I.en. T. 'lug. G. Bang.,
I'. Cox, E. c" E. T 11101,-n It. Midden. n
Elcock, 8 Slunckton, C Harrold, A.
Moody, W B Stephen, .1. Tilmal..l. Chapman. It.
Brown, J. Whitehead Smith, W. Chiexell. W .1. 4... X,
B. 11. %tiller, Mead, A It. WareiLllll, .t E. War:
-
haul, E. Wareham, G. F. Score, 11 J. li,tou, S.
Wilmon, A. Dowding, &c.

After the timal loyal toant• duly honour.. I
Mr. GEORGE ISONlPprop.sed 'The Army, Navy, atyl
~,,yre F0re...." It was a toast which omit.' not Col
to bring bright memories to the breant of mei,'
Englishman. because whetner they looked to their
army i.r navy what did they heel ? They found di it
,eir nat y carried the Itritish ii ig into every navigable
se‘t awl that our army held every strat getic
i throughout the whole world Canting down to the
present ti•oe, we now saw one part ..1 our •riny in
gaged in what might turn out to be a dead y eMilict
in South .Vfnca, whilst in Central Africa we hat
seen and still saw our gallant army going through a
niont arduous and toilsome campaign, and ene of
which he was afraid they had not by any seen
the end. After reference to the Soudan, and regret
at Gord n's death, he expresieel the pleasun• it wan
to meet them all then, that evening. and to •we
among them such an excellent npresent live of the
Dorset Yeomanry an Cipfaln 31ontagn Dmint. wluoul
he had known for many years afil being ass...fiat...l with
the yeomanry 11.4 well as the tolunk.er., .4 whom be
could speak in the highest terms an a gentleman for
whom lie always entevtaileil the highest estemul alel
respect. (Olitiers.) lie begged to cotetle with the
blast the name, of Captain t taunt and Sergeant.Maiet
Stride.
Mr Movraot; (fritur, 11. p., in renpowling, sahl it
seemed as though it was only a few day. ago that lie
wan in command of the Wintb.trne Company
Volunteers. fli. presence there that eve ); carried
him back to that tine, 20 year, ago but th .... . 21
years had slipped by no quickly that they seemed hat
an. a few days. and they brolight back some very
pleasant reminiscences to him ii. renteintered has in..;
as his lieutenant their 01.1 and worthy friend Mr.
tlield Taylor, and their old friend Mr. E. T Budd,"
was their eolour-sereant. (Applause ) lie had bolt
connectod with the reserve forces fur many year., but
li' had never before been called upon Cu. reu.,nl in
C I ptall .f the Wiintionie Troop of Yeomanry LiValty.
alth.eigh he had been asaociated wit • the Yeomanry
for a great many years In fact, when be left the
arniy a IrCri, the first thing he did wag to ask for :4
CoUallirOiloa 111 the y,,,isianry, and except the lapse i,f
a year be had been in that linte ever since. True, he
had only been connected with this troop for about
tufo or Wes pars, but he had seeu quite enough

ef them, and of the Dorset Regiment generally.to
(..1 -ere that if ever that regiment was railed iipen it
3111..11g the foreotoot, to I,to awl siistein the
hour tel interests of the comitre.
Whilst on this subject, be 'should like to say the
imbente troop would be glad of a few mere recruits,.
It gave him resit pleasure to have hi* name coupled
*Oh this toast, and it gave him great satisfaction to
think he was able to respenil for the army, navy, and
re-eri e f..re" It,, was convinced n r army, altheugh
small. whenever called on would always be found
ready to do its work. (llear, hear ) Rn forring to the
iduntiers, he said the volunteers were a branch of
the ...nice of which he always had the highest
a branch of the service which spning sip
pontanemisly some twenty years ION when there
was some chance of 's struggle with France, a service
which had flourished ever since, and would, he hoped,
flourish until England was no more. (Cheers.)
The volunteer force numbered mune 200,000 men.
ansl the fact that we had such a force 14, that in the
c„untry enabled onr entail party to go out of the
country and do its duty whenever required, and pre-
vented other tuitions from etepping in in their
absence, which therwise would be a tune of danger
to England, and which they would not stttinpt to do
hem as we had such a trained force as the volun-
teer., to protect our hearths anil Menem lie did not
think there WM a finer force in the world then the
vellintser ef the lTnited Kiniploni (Cheers ) It
wa. a force admirably turned out, admirably armed,
and—although a great many anny officers might net
solmit it a force able to compete an capable of coin-
...tang with 300.000 men of any regular army in the
4.„rhi (.‘pplause.) Out of 20'3000 men comprising
the volunteer force ot this country something like
20000 had made thlmselves efficient Then, passing
from the volunteers, there wan the militia force of
this c.ointry whirls comprised POMO 20000 men, and
the yeomanry cavalry force which was ever ll 000
strong. so that altogether we had a res.:l.v") force or
„,,, ow men and an available force of about
half a-million men In coriclusion he again
thanked thein for having received the toast and the
mention of his name with an much enthusiasm.
(Clwera.)
The UH UM( I,N JW.,110.4'd "The health of Itit-
Lienknant Weld Taylor. and Mr. Wimp Tartnit,
wh„ was reeeived with cheers. suitably responded.
Mr E T Iltusisist proposed "'theßishop and
Clergy and Ministers of all I)enominationa," to which
kir CHAPMAN responded

,
Acling-SGrgeoll I'.IRICINBOI.I proposed "The Health
of Colonel Steward and the staff officer.
ff. ...vital -Sergeant II a rrx R and Sergeant. I nstructor
Thu ir briefly nriponded
Air. T LAING proposed "The Health of the Officers
of the Company—Captain Rawlins. Lieutenant Luff
and Acting-Sergeant Parkinson '—of all ,if whom he
.p.ke in eulogistic terms lie had learned the strength
of the company wax 97, of whom 93 were returned
efficient ; and he was told that there were many inure
waiting to j..in. but as the numerical strength of the
company must not exceed 100, those who wanted to
join must wait until there were vacaneie.,jj
thought that spoke well for the company under their
young Ind gallant officers
l'Aptain IiAWLINS, in responding, thanked all the
offi.. r. and inn who had rallied round and so heartily
olipi..rt,4l him since he lutd been captain if the corps.
making spec al Islington to the non-commissioned
officer. I eolichision, he said he 41,0ih1l always do
his utmo.t t, promote the interest of the ninmany.
Lieutenant Lt-ri also briefly responded, and after
thanking the iime-Colnmigsioned officers-particularly
Sergeant Wallingford and Sergeant-Instructor
11Cant -he said that he had never seen less than 19
filen parade at any drill he had attended, and that
spoke ilium, for the interest the men took in their
drill. lApplathte )
Acting-Surgeon PARIEINArM, in responding, Paid
when Captain Rawlins was appointed in cot iiiii and iif
the nimpany there were some heart learnings among
some other officers that Cu h a junior officer should
he placed at the head of a company; but events had
justified the .'eeision of Colonel Stewa d, and the
appiintmrnt was one which had given general satis-
faction in Wimborne.

-
The concluding_ toasts were 'The 1)onors of Prizes."
" The Town and Trade of Wimhorne," "Thu Visitors,"
and '' The Non•Commi•isioned Officers."
• • • -

Horne capital vocal and inArtune-nsi.almii,ic (includ-
ing Mr. Stanley Hayter's "Pp Show) was given,
and a very pleasant evening war 'pent,