The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-13 00:00:00

RIFLE CONFERENCE.

A conference of gentlemen interested in the volunteer
movement generally and in rifle shooting specially com-
menced its sittings yesterday in the hall of King's College.
The object of the conference was stated to be to " enable
those who are interested in rifle shooting, to consider the
management of rifle matches.fprize meetings, and other com-
petitions; to impart information as to the apparatus and
weapons employed, the targets, marking, and scoring, and
the various adjuncts of rifle shooting ; as well as to discuss
the arrangements and regulations which have been approved
by experience, or are suggested as further improvements."
The committee by whom it is promoted consists of up-
wards of 80 gentlemen connected with the Volunteer move-
ment in various parts of the country, Captain Macgregor, of
the London Scottish, being the chairman, and Lieutenant
Cunningham, 18th Middlesex (Harrow) Rifles, being the
hc,norary secretary. The proceedings are to extend over
three days, and the questions to be discussed are classed
under sections, those set down for consideration yesterday
relating to the general arrangements connected with rifle
shooting matches. The chairman of the day was Mr. W.
E. Forster, M.P., captain commanding the 23d Yorkshire
Volunteer Rifles, and the secretaries were Mr. Rigby,
Dublin Rifle Club, and Captain Tyrrell, 30th Middlesex
Volunteers. _

•
Captain MACGREGOR opened the proceedings by briefly
pointing out the necessity that existed for some such meet-
ing of Volunteers. They did not intend to hold themselves
out as an administrative body, nor as delegates to procure
fresh legislation, but they were simply a self-constituted
body whose desire it was to elicit information and opinions
which would be afterwards embodied in a report which
could be considered by those who felt an interest in the pro-
gress of rifle shooting.
The CHAIRMAN, after observing that he had consented
to preside less as a practical authority than because he had
not expressed, nor even formed, strong opinions upon many
of the points that would probably be mooted in the course
of the discussion, called upon the gentlemen who had pre-
pared papers to read them to the meeting.
Capt. WOODS (Central London Rifle Rangers) then read
a"paper upon the general arrangements for rifle matches. He
recommended that early entries should be encouraged, tut
that post-entries should be permitted either with or without
additional fee. In respect to squadding in small-bore con-
tests, the squads should not exceed five men, and with the
Government weapon should consist of not more than 8 or
10. If sighting were permitted at the targets not more than
three shots should be allowed. The disputed question con-
cerning ties ought to be considered, and might be prevented
by the adoption of a code of by-laws.
Mr. BLANCH, of Liverpool, made a statement as to the
decline of rifle shooting in Lancashire, and the steps which
he and others had taken to revive it. He considered that
decline had arisen from imperfect organisation, the evils of
which had not been felt at first when the movement had
novelty to recommend it. The list of prize-winners showed
that the fortunate competitors were a few old hands at
shooting, and some other gentlemen whose natural tastes
and command of time and money had enabled them to attain
a suprising standard of efficiency. It was, he thought, a
great mistake to place all competitors at rife'matches upon
the same footing as hitherto, the result of which had been
in Lancashire to deter from competition allbut a select few.
In order to meet that difficulty a rifle meeting was held at
Southport, at which the prizes only amounted in value to
£9O, but, being offered to those who had never won a prize
of £lO, they attracted no less than 189 competitors. He re-
commended the separation of rifle competitions into classes,
so that prizes might not be monopolised by a few, and that a
prize of large value, be offered for the best shot, which should
confer upon the winner the championship of England.
Sergeant THORNEURY (Victories) next read a paper, in
which it was suggested that all entries should be made at
least one day before shooting, so that squadding could be
easily and satisfactorily arranged. Post-entries he dis-
proved, and if allowed at all they should not be permitted
later than half an hour before shooting, those thus entering
to be squadded by themselves. Re-entries ought never to
be allowed, as giving an undue advantage to the richer com-
petitors. Squadding should be adopted in all matches,
but where men entered for several contests which wore
proceeding at the same time there was great difficulty, and,
therefore, he recommended that the first stage of the shooting
for the Queen's Prize at Wimbledon should be kept distinct
from the All Comers' Prizes. Not more than two sighting
shots should be allowed, and bad weather should not be per-
mitted to interfere with the progress of a match once be-
gun. He also suggested that a court of appeal, composed of
practical men, should be established, to whom, with the
umpire's consent, disputed points might be refeired,
The CHAIRMAN observed that the great difficulty was,
how to provide for the just claims of the first-class shots)
and at the same time to encourage those who had not yet
attained thee sufficient degree of excellence to compete with
such accomplished antagonists.
A prolonged discussion then ensued, in which all the
various points referred to in the papers were debated. A
general opinion was expressed that the practice of allowing
sighting shots should Le continued, not only because of the
pecuniary advantage it produced to the match funds, but
because it placed the competitors upon an equal footing
with regard to the particular target fired at. Some gentle-
men, however, insisted that sighting shots were injudicious
and that every rifleman ought to shoot as he would when
sporting or in the battle field. The subject of squadding
gave rise to much difference of opinion, an alphabetical ar-
rangement being objected to as unjust to some and unduly
advantageous to others. Ballotting for squads was sug-
gested, but objected to on the ground that such a system
would require the attendance of every man engaged in the
match at the commencement of the contest, and thus in-
volve the loss of time which many could not afford. A
more favourably received plan was that competitors upon
entry should name the time at which they would prefer to
fire, and thus enable squads to be formed in accordance with
the wishes of those engaged. It was agreed by all speakers
that it was highly desirable that the squads should not be
too large. A general concurrence of opinion was also ex-
pressed in favour of not allowing any match to be inter-
rupted by bad weather so long as the target could be
fairly seen. The suggestion of a court of appeal was
deprecated by some speakers as likely to interfere with the
responsibility of the umpire, but on the other hand it was
argued that such a tribunal would be gladly resorted to by
umpires in cases of difficulty. A proposition which was
favourably received was that an authoritative statement of
the facts of each case submitted to the court of appeal should
be published for the guidance of umpires and the satisfac-
tion of the competitors affected. Some remarks were also
made as to the desirability of encouraging county matches,
which it was suggested could be carried out economically
by the contending parties agreeing to shoot in their own
localities on the same day and as near as possible under the
same circumstances. A divergence of opinion prevailed as
to the practicability of marking misses in sighting shots,
although it was agreed that if it could be done it would be a
great assistance to the shooter to know in what way his
shots escaped the target.
In reply to a remark from Mr. Cunningham,
Capt. PAGE said the National Rifle Association intended
in future to limit the competition for the Queen's Prize to
effective volunteers.
The discussion having closed shortly before 6,
The CHAIRMAN congratulated the meeting upon the ex-
cellent tone in which it had been carried on, and expressed
his belief that great advantage Would ensue to the volunteer
cause and to rifle shooting by the comments that had been
made.
The conference then adjourned.
The
magazines, mark-
g, aascnonsubjects
. aLt
eeu for daytargets,
relate to the appara-
d with
Lieut.-Col. London Rifle Brigade, is to
preside.
On
weapons Thursday
and
m
en sthtaandasubfoireedtisoe under the presidency
of special
special conditions as to
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discussiona
waharoad et, in thisg,
of the Duke of Wellington, and there will also be a sub-
sectional meeting to consider the subject of artillery matches
with heavy guns.

presented itself on the Forth
On Saturday afternoon,
Bridge at Stirling,
A singular scene
near the New
ice had been bearing for Our
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aok ad a
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broke
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including a number of ladies, were
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skaters and others, some of whom
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the side great confusion was
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bank to bank. Several exteitlehvi
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tached and floated slowly witil
were speedily procured,
rafts were covered with
leaped from the smaller to
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subsided,w ere otfh e little
ashore ono at a time, principally by means cf planks and
ladders. '
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