one of which is rowing with the tide and the other against it. The weather influences the firing more perhaps than it is possible to make fair allowance for; therefore the following figures are but the rough results, and do not profess to do more than let our readers see what constitutes average shooting.

Enfield Shooting: the Queen's Prize. -These records begin from 1864, in which year the size of the targets was altered:

1864. Three men made 47 marks; one made 46 marks; four made 45 marks; and twenty-two who made only 40 marks won prizes.

1865. Two made 47; eight made 45; and several prize-winners only made 39.

1866. Two made 48; one made 47; eight made 46; six made 45; and no less than 43 men who made the excellent score of 41 marks were excluded from taking prizes. Both in 1864 and 1865 these men would have been high in the prize list.

There are three degrees of scoring. A hit counts 2, if not in the centre, which reckons 3, or in the bull's-eye, for which 4 is scored; so that to make 45 marks a man must average every shot in the centre, as all fire 15 rounds. The average shooting is much the same from year to year; more men made in 1864 the score of 13 at 200 yards, 11 at 500 yards, and 8 at 600 yards than any other numbers. In 1865 these became 13 at 200, 10 at 500, 8 at 600; while in 1866 there was an improvement to 14 at 200, 11 at 500, 9 at 600 yards.

In 1864 there were 1,792 competitors, of whom no fewer than 1,398 made either 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15 marks at 900; 837 made 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13 marks at 500; and 695 made 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 at 600 yards. And we find from year to year much about the same average, 1866 being, taken altogether, very nearly a mark in advance of 1864 or 1861.

This is, then, something very near the average shooting of picked shots

may seem, it is better than perhaps can be made by any body of armed men with the Government rifle with which they are armed.

Small-bore Shooting.-The great shooting reputation which this country has made for itself at very long distances has been made by the men who are known as the "small-bore men," who shoot with delicate rifles, not in any way adapted for military purposes, but which are admirably suited for targetshooting. These men usually appear at the firing-point with a servant to assist in the multifarious occupations with which they have to prepare for the great trials of brains and skill. For they have to shoot more with their brains, availing themselves of their vast experience, than with their rifles, which will do simply whatever their masters enable them to do. When a really skilled shot of this kind misses the bull's-eye, or is out of the centre at any rate, he can almost invariably assign a sufficient reason for his failure. The servant assists in carrying the precious rifle, the carefully-weighed charges of powder, the mechanically-fitting bullet and cleaning-rod, their Ross, Burrow, or Steward telescope, the all-important waterproof bed on which to lie down, the portable gunsmith's shop, with every variety of instrument that accident may call into use, and, although last, by no means least, a box containing many sights, of various forms and patterns and sizes, which these skilled and highly-trained men adapt to their rifles under the very varying circumstances of wind and light, as quickly and readily as a veteran fisherman varies his mode of attack when anxious to secure a victim whose weight and pluck will prove worthy of the angler's skill. Dr. Cotton's quaint lines upon the equipment necessary for an angler, in which he enumerates no less than fourteen things as essential, and says— "See that all things be right,

For 'twould be a spite

To want tools when a man goes a-fishing,"

from every part of the kingdom, and are taken from every class; hence to very many it is of urgent importance that they should if possible not only win honour and distinction, but also sufficient money to defray their unavoidable expenses. It is far better to give ten prizes of 51. than one of 50%., and this policy has been adopted in all the preliminary stages, and for all prizes where it can be put into operation.

During these years a corresponding increase has taken place in the prizes offered by the county associations which are in connexion with the National Rifle Association. The prize list of the parent association being added to these, we find the amounts were,—

£14,000 in 1862.

14,907 in 1863.

15,976 in 1864.

18,751 in 1865.

23,177 in 1866.

If the Council were to call for returns of all the prizes given at company, battalion, county, and private matches, and also at the great simultaneous matches, we should perhaps find that the sum reached 100,000l. If this is the case, the person most sceptical as to the national advantage of the Volunteer movement would be convinced that it is of some importance. If its supporters furnish so large a sum of money to be contended for annually, they at any rate are in earnest in their belief that rifle-shooting exercises an important influence upon Volunteering, and therefore upon national defence.

The competitors for the Queen's prizes and for all the other prizes, exclusive of the shooting for sweepstakes and pool, have been as follows:

It will be observed that the total numbers have increased every year, except in 1865. The decrease then was owing to the general election in that year. It

who have taken most keenly to Volunteering are amongst the most busy and active men, often the most influential, in their respective localities. The idlers of society find Volunteering far too ener getic an amusement. Shooting takes a great deal more time than they can possibly afford from their listless and useless lives. Hence, as might be expected, nearly all Volunteers are actively employed in some profession, business, or trade. Polling clerks, canvassers, agents, seconders, proposers, candidates, and returning officers, were unable to put in their usual appearance at Wimbledon. The entries, the visitors, the members, and consequently the income, were all materially affected by the general election, which, luckily for the National Rifle Association, has taken place only once since it has been in existence. Lord Elcho was himself called away from Wimbledon to defend his seat from an unexpected attack.

The competitors for the Queen's Prize cannot increase as rapidly as the competitors for the open prizes, to whose numbers there is no practical limit except that of time and targets. Only two representatives from each company may shoot for the Queen's Prize, and the whole of the competitors for the Queen's Prize are picked representative shots, men chosen simply for their shooting powers. All are chiefs in their own restricted shooting quarters-all may be said to have graduated with honours. Every city and town sends up its known champions, while scores of unheard-of villages send up their latent heroes, and often not without success. The village of Wem would never perhaps have been heard of out of Shropshire, if Sergeant Roberts, who won the Queen's Prize in 1863, had not rescued it from its obscurity. Few Englishmen, at any rate, had heard of Kingussie, whence hails modest young Cameron, who gave his name to the meeting of last year.

SHOOTING STATISTICS.

It is almost as difficult to compare the shooting of one year with another

one of which is rowing with the tide and the other against it. The weather influences the firing more perhaps than it is possible to make fair allowance for; therefore the following figures are but the rough results, and do not profess to do more than let our readers see what constitutes average shooting.

Enfield Shooting: the Queen's Prize. -These records begin from 1864, in which year the size of the targets was altered:

1864. Three men made 47 marks; one made 46 marks; four made 45 marks; and twenty-two who made only 40 marks won prizes.

1865. Two made 47; eight made 45; and several prize-winners only made 39. 1866. Two made 48; one made 47; eight made 46; six made 45; and no less than 43 men who made the excellent score of 41 marks were excluded from taking prizes. Both in 1864 and 1865 these men would have been high in the prize list.

There are three degrees of scoring. A hit counts 2, if not in the centre, which reckons 3, or in the bull's-eye, for which 4 is scored; so that to make 45 marks a man must average every shot in the centre, as all fire 15 rounds. The average shooting is much the same from year to year; more men made in 1864 the score of 13 at 200 yards, 11 at 500 yards, and 8 at 600 yards than any other numbers. In 1865 these became 13 at 200, 10 at 500, 8 at 600; while in 1866 there was an improvement to 14 at 200, 11 at 500, 9 at 600 yards.

In 1864 there were 1,792 competitors, of whom no fewer than 1,398 made either 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15 marks at 900; 837 made 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13 marks at 500; and 695 made 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 at 600 yards. And we find from year to year much about the same average, 1866 being, taken altogether, very nearly a mark in advance of 1864 or 1861.

This is, then, something very near the average shooting of picked shots

may seem, it is better than perhaps can be made by any body of armed men with the Government rifle with which they are armed.

For

Small-bore Shooting.-The great shooting reputation which this country has made for itself at very long distances has been made by the men who are known as the "small-bore men," who shoot with delicate rifles, not in any way adapted for military purposes, but which are admirably suited for targetshooting. These men usually appear at the firing-point with a servant to assist in the multifarious occupations with which they have to prepare for the great trials of brains and skill. they have to shoot more with their brains, availing themselves of their vast experience, than with their rifles, which will do simply whatever their masters enable them to do. When a really skilled shot of this kind misses the bull's-eye, or is out of the centre at any rate, he can almost invariably assign a sufficient reason for his failure. The servant assists in carrying the precious rifle, the carefully-weighed charges of powder, the mechanically-fitting bullet and cleaning-rod, their Ross, Burrow, or Steward telescope, the all-important waterproof bed on which to lie down, the portable gunsmith's shop, with every variety of instrument that accident may call into use, and, although last, by no means least, a box containing many sights, of various forms and patterns and sizes, which these skilled and highly-trained men adapt to their rifles under the very varying circumstances of wind and light, as quickly and readily as a veteran fisherman varies his mode of attack when anxious to secure a victim whose weight and pluck will prove worthy of the angler's skill. Dr. Cotton's quaint lines upon the equipment necessary for an angler, in which he enumerates no less than fourteen things as essential, and says"See that all things be right,

For 'twould be a spite

To want tools when a man goes a-fishing,"

scription of the correct equipment for a Wimbledon small bore man. It was such a one who, seeing a young urchin about to take up the precious rifle on which all his hopes depended, exclaimed, "Take care, you scoundrel, where are you going? You might just as well take one's watch and hurl it to the ground. Begone, sir!"

On one occasion there were twenty prizes given to be shot for by these men at 500 yards, and every prize-winner scored twenty marks, which is the highest that can be made in five shots. Each man hit a mark two feet square every shot.

C.

International and other Matches.There are two International Matches. One is contested by twenty volunteers, who shoot for a challenge trophy, value 1007., which was collected by a committee with Colonel the Hon. Lindsay at its head, who worked as hard for this object as he has for the St. George's Vase, an important Volunteer prize, with which Colonel Lindsay's name will ever be connected. The other is for "The Elcho Shield,” a noble work of art of enormous value, presented for challenge competition by the nobleman whose name it bears.

The Volunteer Match has been shot three years

1864. England, 1016 marks; Scotland, 724 marks.

1865. Scotland, 1047 marks; England, 1029 marks; Ireland, 909 marks. 1866. England, 1070 marks; Scotland, 1059 marks.

The Elcho Shield has been shot for five years

1862. England, 890 marks; Scotland, 724 marks.

1863. England, 1032 marks; Scotland, 999 marks.

1864. Scotland, 967 marks; England, 950 marks.

1865 England, 1053 marks; Scotland, 1051 marks; Ireland, 935 marks.

1866. Scotland, 1170 marks; England, 1121 marks; Ireland, 1039 marks.

Thus England has won three times

In 1865 the excitement was immense, owing to a difference which arose as to one shot. The correspondence that took place between the Earl of Ducie and Mr. Horatio Ross, as captains of the respective teams, was a model for all great opposing leaders. The decision was rightly given in favour of the Saxons; and Mr. Ross, in right courteous language, congratulated the rival chief upon his hard-fought, bloodless victory, who in his turn thought such a defeat as his friends the Scots had sustained was nearly as honourable as victory. This incident furnished one of the Wimbledon camp poets with a subject on which to exercise his fervid gift. The shield now hangs in the Parliament House in Edinburgh in charge of the Lord Provost of that City. The shooting in 1866, as will be seen from the above score, was excellent. Ireland has made an excellent start, and bids fair to win the shield ere many years are past.

The Lords and Commons match attracts many of the "Upper Ten Thousand" to the ground, and causes much pleasant excitement. The late Jules Gérard, the Lion-killer as he was commonly called, was at Wimbledon in 1862, and was gratified and astonished at the completeness of the arrangements and the skill of the Volunteers. "But," to use his own words, "what "impressed me most during the meet

66

ing was the match between the Mem"bers of the House of Lords and those "of the House of Commons. It mat"tered little, to my thinking, in which camp victory remained; the importance of the fact entirely consists "in the example set in such high quarters. In truth, but for the "difference in the weapons made use "of, we might have thought that we "were living in the good old times, "when our knightly ancestors stood, "lances in rest, in the lists. With "such examples before them there is

The Association receives less support than it ought to receive from the public who are outside the pale of the Volunteer world. "A Cup presented by the Peace Society to be shot for by Volunteers" would be a most appro

The Association has 8,3717. 4s. 7d. of available capital.

COUNTY AND COLONIAL ASSOCIATIONS.

One of the first steps taken by the Council to strengthen their position and extend their influence throughout the country, was to endeavour to get the counties to form Rifle Associations. There are now forty-one counties which are in direct connexion with the National Rifle Association. They contribute to the funds of the parent association, and each receives annually a bronze medal, which is given to the county champion, who by virtue of that position is entitled to compete for the Prince of Wales's prize of 100l. together with twenty prizes of 51. There are sixteen colonies in connexion with the National Rifle Association, on the same footing. as the counties; and stray champions have appeared from Australia and India, but have not yet succeeded in carrying off the Prince's prize. The colonies in which rifle associations have been founded, are Cape of Good Hope; Frontenac (Canada); Hong Kong; New Brunswick; New South Wales; New Zealand; Nova Scotia; Prince Edward Island; Queensland; South Australia; Upper Canada; Victoria; Yokohama, together with Calcutta, Western and Northern India. Thus we find that the influence of the National Rifle Association is not even confined to this country, but assists to educate our colonists in