The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-01 00:00:00

A METROPOLITAN RIFLE RANGE.

Yesterday a meeting was held in Willis's Rooms
of representatives of the Metropolitan Rifle Corps
for the purpose of considering the best means of
providing further facilities for rifle practice. Lord
Elcho took the chair, and among those present
were Earl Grosvenor, Lord Bury, Colonel M'Leod
of M'Leod, Lord Ranelagb, Major-General Hay,
Major Hughes, &o.
The CHAIRMAN observed that although the foun-
dation of all real, earnest volunteering was, of
course, a spirit of patriotism and perseverance,
other inducements were required to bind men
to the movement. Such gatherings as that held
on Easter Monday at Brighton wore of groat ad-
vantage in keeping up enthusiasm in regard to the
movement. Rifle shooting also answered the same
purpose, and therefore, a taste for that exercise
ought to be encouraged. Rifle butts, like justice,
should be brought to the door of every man. In a
large city like London the Volunteers were very
unfortunately situated in that respect. There were
very few available sites for ranges, and the price of
land was very high. Certain individual corps had
excellent ranges of their own,such as that at Worm-
wood Scrubs, belonging to the five assoeieted regi-
ments, and that at Wimbledon, which was used by
the London Scottish. But there was no public
range open to the Volunteers of the metropolis, ex-
cept, perhaps, that at Cremorne-gardens. (A laugh.)
A number of geatlemen who took a deep interest in
the Volunteer system, had come to the conclusion
that the most practical way of getting a public
range (especially one with targets at 1,000 yards,
which was an important desideratum) was to afford
encouragement to the Rifle Range Company which
was started a year or 18 months ago. The meeting
was called to discuss the matter.
Earl GROSTENOR said that in the case of his own
corps (the Westminsters) he found that their effi-
ciency as riflemen was affected by the want of a pro-
per range. He moved the following "resolution":—
" That this meeting is of opinion that greatly in-
creased accommodation for rifle practice, especially
at long ranges, should be secured for the Volunteers
in and near London, and that commanding officers,
Volunteers, and others present, should use their best
endeavours to promote the establishment of a pub-
lic rifle range for the metropolis."

Colonel LINDSAY seconded the motion, which was
agreed to unanimously.
Mr. HEMMING explained that the proposed range
was situated at Kensal. There were omnibuses on the
road, and a railway station had been planted close
to the ground, so that it could be reached by each
of the main lines in the metropolis. The peculiarity
of the plan was that instead of placing all the targets
in a row, and distributing the squads at different
distances, the squads were grouped together and the
targets scattered about. At the extreme end of the
range there was a rising ground of 50ft., which was
to be artificially elevated to 70ft. There were to be
four first-class targets at 1,000 yards ; four at 900
yards, four at 800 yards, and four at 700 yards.
The second-class ranges would be established on a
lower level, and would be shot at by men standing
on a platform some 10ft. higher than the first class
men. The third class targets would be placed at the
side of the other ranges. There would be 46 targets
altogether, and they would be so arranged as to
allow of the whole of them being used at all the
ranges with perfect safety at the same time. Thus
46 squads, or at least 500 men, could practise at
once, at whatever ranges they chose.
Captain POWELL suggested that it would be better
to have three or four ranges on different sides of the
metropolis than to invest a large sum of money in
a single range, which would not suit all corps. He
wished to know how far the proposed range was
from town, and how much it would cost.
Mr. BANTING said the Kensal range was three
miles and a half from the Marble Arch. The esti-
mate was £30,000 for land and £30,000 for buildings
including a drill-hall as large as Westminster-hall.
The CHAIRMAN said it was intended to adopt the
electric self-registering target at this range, and
Major-General Hay had kindly consented to give
any explanation on the subject.
Major-General HAY held that Mr. Hemming's
plan was very ingenious and successful. He hoped
the Volunteers would give moral as well as material
support to this undertaking. Unless the range
were constructed thoroughly well it had better be
left alone. If properly carried out and managed it
would, he believed, prove a lucrative speculation.
Its success would depend in a great degree on the
efficiency of the electric targets, but he had no
doubt they would be found to answer.
Lord TRURO acknowledged the importance of
procuring a good rifle range at an easy distance
from town, but doubted whether the proposed range
would not be too remote and costly. Subscriptions
must not be looked for from the volunteers, who
were already heavily burdened.
Lord BURY believed the volunteers would be glad
to use the target, but the capitalists of the City
must, in the first instance, provide the funds for its
construction.

Lord RANELAGII pronounced the scheme utterly
preposterous in a commercial point of vie w. A capi-
tal of £60,000 was required. Of the 18,000 riflemen
in the metropolis at least half were already provided
with rifle ranges ; and of the remainder not above
2,000 or 3,000 were in the habit of shooting. How
could such a number of men support so costly an
undertaking ? There was no chance of getting in-
terest on the outlay.

Major-General HAY said no subscriptions were
wanted for volunteers. If they would only give
countenance to the scheme sufficient funds would be
forthcoming.
The resolution was agreed to.
Captain WILLIAMS moved, and Captain PALMER
seconded, the following resolution :
" That this plan of the Metropolitan Rifle Range
Company is deserving of the support of the meet-
ing.
The motion was adopted.
The next resolution, moved by Col, GREY, and
seconded by Col. M‘LEOD, was :
"That the commanding officers and volunteers
present undertake to make this particular place
known to the members of their respective corps, and
to ascertain the number of shares likely to be taken
by them, and that a return be made as early as pos-
sible, addressed to the office of the Metropolitan
Rifle Range Company."

Lord RANELAGH wished to know what was the
financial situation of the scheme.

Mr. BELL, solicitor to the company, said that of
the £60,000 only £15,000 remained to be subscribed.
The directors would be very glad to reduce the esti-
mates if any mode of doing so could be suggested.
The resolution was agreed to, as was also the fol-
lowing one, moved by Capt. FENTON, and seconded
by Col. BATHTJAST

" That a general committee of representatives of
the Middlesex corps be formed to give Practical
effect to the resolution already agreed to by this
meeting--viz., the establishment of a public rifle
range for the metropolis; and that the committee
of the Scrubbs range be desiredto communicate with
metropolitan corps on the subject."
A vote of thanks to the chairman closed the pro.
ceedings.