The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-14 00:00:00

THE CAMP AT WIMBLEDON.

WIMBLEDON, MONDAY NIGHT.
That the present weather may continuo is ab-
solutely the only wish left for the Rifle Associa-
tion. All is favourable for the meeting. The
shooting of the day bee gone off well, and
volunteers continue to flock in from all parts of
the three kingdoms. To sit in the quarter-
master's tent a to become proficient in every
variety of provincialism—from the northern burr
to the Suffolk drawl. Drab men, rod men, green
men, grey men, piebald men, plain clothes men,
have been presenting themselves at its opening all
day, to be promptly relegated to the appropriated
or unappropriated portion of the camp. Those
who have written or been written for before-
hand, are sent to the former ; those who have
made up their minds at the last moment, and
rushed up to Wimbledon unexpectedly, fill the
latter. The men who love camping out
for its own sake, for the fellowship of their
competitors, or for the social pleasures of the
meeting, are all here already, but that there are
an immense number to whom the Queen's prize is
the principal attraction the statistics of to-day
show. Some hundreds have arrived since the
morning, and a constant stream of traffic has been
kept up from Wimbledon and Putney stations.
The latter, it may be well to say, is by far the
most convenient terminus for the camp. It is,
moreover, so much nearer the main entrance to the
enclosure that while the cab fare from Putney is
sixpence each person if a vehicle is shared, and
`)two shillings for those who occupy a cab exclu-
sively, that from Wimbledon under the same cir-
cumstances is one shilling each person and
four shillings for the whole cab. The
tramway from the shooting places to the
butts has been busy all day, and its renewal
under the direction of Mr. Gregory, the president
of the Civil Engineers, by a firm of railway con-
tractors, who aid the work for the association on
the most generous terms, gives unabated satis-
faction. The scrupulous cleanliness of the road-
way and streets—save the dreadful black mud,
and even this is rapidly hardening under the
fierce sun—is very marked. The camp command-
ant, Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. W. Colville, makes a
round of inspection daily at noon, when, as the
standing orders remark significantly, "he ex-
pects to find the streets and parade grounds
carefully swept, and all refuse from cook-
ing places, broken glass, straw, and loose
papers will have been thrown into the ashpits."
The sanitary arrangements of the camp, of which
we made passing notice a week ago, merit praise
for their completeness. No country town freshly
swept and garnished under the Local Government
Act can be freer from impurities than this tempo-
rary abiding place of more than three thousand
num ; and as fewer details are more necessary, so
none have been more effectually dealt with than
these. The tapering flagstaffs in front of the line
of camp, for the mathematically regular "dressing"
of which Capt. Drake has received so much profes-
sional commendation, are all in gala dress to-day.
The standards of different nationalities wave from
their summits, as if to show the universality of rifle-
shooting, while " bits of bunting " of every
variety of colour and design wave over everyportion
of the camp. What looks like the piratical device
of death's head and cross bones on a black ground
is quartered with sections of the English colours
and flaunts over a tent with which hospitality is
far more intimately associated than rapine. Many
other volunteer standards are of an ornate
complexity which would puzzle the most astute of
signalmen; and some of the costumes to-day bore
obvious traces of having shrunk in the wetting of
the two last nights. But on all sides an expres-
sion of indifference to bad night weather is to be
heard. A wet day might be awkward for visitors,
and so tell badly on the funds of the association;
but a rainy night,—" pah !" said one gallant
fellow in our hearing, with a gesture of infinite
contempt, " what harm can it do beyond making
fellows dig the trenches they ought to have done
long ago, and teaching them to look out for the dry
corners of their tent l''' Trousers which had
shrunk almost to the knee, and a uniform coat
which had the remarkable feature of short lady-
like sleeves, gave emphasis and point to this
disregard, and certain " wrinkles " such as
looking where the rain-drops incline to fall, and
then making artificial channels by delving tho
outside canvas with the finger—were freely inter-
changed. The surpassing energy and early hours
of the Victorim are becoming matter of open
comment. The unfortunates near them complain
that they cannot sleep after six a.m. for the noise
of drilling and bugle-calls. The general camp
retails sounds at this hour; but the tattoo is not
till 10.30, and many a good shot would like to
pass some of the intervening time in slumber.
But the Victorian will have none of this. They
are said to combine the most perfect luxury with
the hardest and roughest work, and it is certain
that they do more for themselves than most corps
of equal pretensions. This morning at six, their
muster was certainly not large, but those present
were told off for various domestic duties and set
to them with a relish which went far to show that
a little " roughing it" gave additional zest to the
eomferte aryl luxuries with which they are pro-
fusely supplied.
The shooting of the day *vas in strict 800ordance
with the programme., Will the following scores
were made :
RIFLE cLtt merge.
eoo you. e 00197 pi". Total
Srot fish Vairlit Club ll9
Scottish Sma11-bore Club
Bri.tol Club

Bunay Loaf-nage MKS Uwe I
Gorilla Clu
Boon low lung-range Club
• Willman CM.
OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE BRONZE MEDAL.
9007d5. Nora.. =yds. Total.
Winner—Priv. F. G. Templer, C.C. 10 ... 111 ... 14

-
TOWER HAMLETS BRONZE MEDAL.
100 yds. 500 yds. WO Ida Total.
Winner—Priv. Heritage, T.Handets 8 ... 111 15 ... 38
MIDDLESEX BRONZE MEDAL.
200 500 MI Whiners
yds. yds. yds Total of
Pt ivate Ivory, 19th Middlesex l5 ... 17 ... 14 ... 46 ... £lO.
Serxecuit Smart, 23rd Middlesex l2 ... 15 ... IS ... 45 ... 9
Private POIMM, 11th Middlesex
Captain Hopkins, 414 Middlesex l3 ... 17 ... 13 ... 43 ...
Pnvate 14ke, 22nd Middlesex. ...
Private Bameon, 15th Middlesex 14 ... 18 ... II ... 41 ...
l'rivate Young, Elad Middlesex l3 ... 1.11 .- 10 ... 41 ...
Quartennanter S. Williams, Mb
Middlesex_ _

OnTo;;;74;grovant Montgomery, 7th
Xi&km:
Rrigennt Ashwell, 4th Midinom 12 ... 14 ... 12 ... 32 ...
limmant Davidoon,loth Middle= 13 ... 14 ... 31/ ... 2
Private Robinson, rid Middlesex 14 ... 14 ... 11 ... 311 ...
Sergeant Roberta, Seth 14Mahmitt 14 ... 14 ... 11 ... 2
Dewed ThcompionreithiniYiradrz
Maim ..iria.ll ••• 30 I
• Mm 41 the