< PreviousT H E R I F L E M A N Summer, 1946. Whilst the Annual Report and Balance Sheet epitomise factual , results of the Society's activities, it leaves to the imagination the immense amoimt of voluntary enterprise and labour which has been applied for the expansion and betterment of small-bore rifle shooting. TTie self-sacrificing efforts of Club and Association officials in every part of Great Britain is beyond praise, and our words are inadequate to express the warm thanks»we feel for them in their maintenance o f t h e m o v e m e n t . T h i s h a s b e e n a c h i e v e d i n t h e w o r s t y e a r y e t known for obtaining .22 shooting requisites. We are proud of presenting a record membership of 4,019 affiliated emits. Our fundamental urgent need is the supply of .22 rifles. One club with over 100 members has only two borrowed rifles to use, ' whilst some are quite unable to start until they get at least one rifle. Whilst priding ourselves on helping the authorities in the build-up of a prototype .22 service rifle which we were hoping would ^ put into production in large quantities in 1945 to provide a universal prototyp)e for clubs as well as the Services, it was October last before the first models were issued for experimental purposes, and it will be at the Society's Victory Prize Meeting at Edinburgh, from 17th to 22nd June next, when refinements suggested by our experts will be incorporated in the new models which will be available on the ' ranges for all to see and handle. In fact, prizes will be awarded | in a competition open to all in which only these rifles may be used. Whether these models will be still further developed and put into production, or whether the design will be kept only as a pattern in case of need, it is hard to say. But in any case there are sure indica tions that the manufacturers will be producing improVed models this year, although the prices are bound to be high. With the aid of our good friends. Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, the supply of .22 long rifle " Rifle Club " ammunition is ; likely to be much improved in the near future. Unfortunately, two additions to the price were made during 1945 and a further increase during 1946. Naturally, we sought the reason, and the manufacturers stated ;— " The position is that during the war years increases in costs of labour and raw materials were offset partly by economies which result from the plant being operated at full capacity on a standarised single product—.22in. Mark 1—and partly by reduced incidence ; of overhead charges due to the greatly increased turnover of the 1 factory as a whole, due to the requirements of the Government for war material. It has been the policy of the I.C.I, to give the i public the full benefit of these factors in the prices fixed for such I commercial products as we were permitted to make, with the result that these prices were maintained at a lower level than would otherwise have been possible. Now that Government contracts have been cancelled and night shifts discontinued, activity has been reduced to a normal level and all commercial products must bear their proper share of overhead charges. " In addition, manufacturing costs are necessarily increased by reason of the more recent wage increases and by. the fact that a variety of types is required for commercial purposes, instead of the one standard type produced during the war period. " The present prices, for .22 ammunition represent an increase of approximately 70 per cent on pre-war prices, which figure, we suggest, compares very favourably with the general trend of prices f o r a l l m a n u f a c t u r e d c o m m o d i t i e s . " , The actual increases of the manufacturers were 3s. and 2s. in 1945, to which the Society added 6d. to cover increases in insurances, trans port, packing, wages, etc. In 1946, the manufacturers' increase was a further 7s. 6d., to which the Society found it necessary to add 2s., as the original addition of 6d. was found insufficient to meet the extra obligations enumerated above. The prospect of imports of wood pulp from Northern Europe is likely to result in more and better card material being available for o u r t a r g e t s . Whilst we may anticipate improvements in these three funda mentals, a little more patience is necessary. Meanwhile, we can only urge all small-bore rifle clubs to carry on. That 1,593 new clubs were formed and affiliated during 1945 should indicate to the manu facturers that we have created potential customers in their thousands, but unless an increase in production is quickly forthcoming the tide will flow so far only to ebb away and not return. During the same twelve months no fewer than 800 clubs gave up, the main decline being due to lack of supplies, thus depriving their members of the stimulus of competition and practice shooting. Whilst 263 new miniature ranges were built by the Society's clubs and certified as safe by the competent military authority on our recommendations, this extra accommodation is insufficient to meet the increasing demand. The question of ranges still under military control has ^eatly exercised your committee, and we have taken this up fully with the authorities and hope by this time next year the matter will be clarified. As the Society's affiliated units include over 1,(X)0 Home Guard clubs and some of their personnel have merged with ordinary clubs, it was decided to continue the competition for the teams of ten Home Guards. No fewer than 418 such teams took part for the Kent- Phillips Challenge Trophy kindly handed over for this event by the Richmond (Surrey) Companies. In the two stages close on 5,000 competitors took part. From the first it was, and still is, our opinion that all British rifle clubs should be open to all of our members. We are glad to say that many Home Guard clubs are adopting this open membership. Amongst the categories of affiliated units it will be understandable that we are much concerned in the progress of the Juniors. There was an increase of 47 units to a total of 639 in 1945, but we cannot feel satisfied. Undoubtedly there has been the handicap of a shortage of .22 rifles, but as we learn that these will soon become issuable and t h e r e f o r e m o r e n u m e r o u s f o r b o t h t h e A . T. C . a n d t h e S e a C a d e t s , these Corps should be more comparable with the A.C.F., who have had an issue of .22 rifles from their inception. Without doubt, the increased cost of .22 ammunition will have a most adverse effect on the amount of shooting these boys can obtain, and we knqw that first-rate .22 marksmen can only be made by regular and sietained practice. For the boys, as well as for the general membership of the Society, the most generous newspaper support comes from the News of the World, and the Challenge Cup for the A.C.F. best Company team competition was again won by the " B " Coy., 5th C.B., The Queen's Royal Regt. This cup and the new County Cadet Cup won by Surrey was presented by your Chairman at the Odeon Cinema at Guildford before a large and influential audience on 11th January of this year. Whilst the first winners of the Lord Derby Challenge Cup for the Sea Cadet Team Championship was won by Unit 281 of Reigate, and was duly presented by Lord Bruntisfield, the then Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty on the 31st January, 1946, the 1945 winners were Dover Sea Cadets and the trophy was presented by Vice-Admiral C. E. Morgan, Admiral Commanding Reserves and Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel, at the Dover Town Hall in April, 1946. The Staniforth Challenge Cup presented for the J.T.C. Match was presented to the Glenalmond School Eight by Lt.-General Sir Neil Ritchie, Commander-in-Chief, Scottish Command, at Glenal mond, on 21st February, 1946, the team having won with a record score of 775. As a basis of efficient rifle shooting the General stressed the value and importance of small-bore practice. We are much indebted to Mr. A. V. Staniforth for the gift of this trophy, and to Col. A. A. E. Chitty, the Inspector of Training Corps, for the inspiring help he has given to this and other schools' shooting events. The " Battle of Britain " Trophy for the A.T.C. teams of Eight Championship, so kindly given by Major John H. Smith of Lincoln, attracted 144 teams. It was won by the Keighley Flight and was presented to the winners by the Director-General, Air Vice-Marshal Sir Alan Lees at their headquarters on Sunday, 19th May, before a large gathering. In 1945 plans were made for the revival of the Universities League, for which your Chairman has presented the trophy, and 17 University teams will take part. The Oxford and Cambridge match for the Heslop trophy duly took place on 9th March, when General Sir Alan C. B. Bourne presented the cup and gave an inspiring address. T h e r e s u l t s o f t h e C o l o n i a l M a t c h e s w e r e s e n t t o t h e P r i v a t e Secretary of H.M. The King, who is, as you know, the Society's Patron. That Kenya won the Aperture Sight Section and Northern Rhodesia the Open Sight Section with record scores calls for our warm congratulations at this meeting. (Hear, hear.) The general competitions of the Society were well supported by entries, in some cases record numbers being attained and record scores achieved. Most warmly we congratulate the Kynoch A team on winning the Club Championship of Britain, and Mr. L. S. Hughes, of Twickenham, on winning the individual short range Postal Cham pionship. The innovation event of the year was the league for standing, kneeling or sitting team shoot, for which 36 teams competed, Leicester winning the first division. We shall gradually revert to the pre-war programme, plus any desirable new events, although prize awards are not easy to obtain. Alternatives to ordinary medals are being considered. In 1946 we shall be shooting again in the Dewar Postal Inter national Match. The revival of the Advisory Committee, consisting of representa tives from County Associations and the Council, made a commendable start with a meeting in Leeds imder Major R. W. Gleadow, who is thanked for the inspiring lead he gave this Committee in the capacity of chairman. The County Associations continue to grow in number. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKSuMMKR, 1946. T H E R I F L E M A N 3 ability and activity, with the result that we propose in 1946 to resume the cash grant of 2 per cent up to a limit of £25 per annum on the trading return of their respective constituent clubs instead of the usual lump sum grant of £4 per annum. Commencing with 1946, the co-operative arrangement, as announced in The Rifleman, has been entered into with the Women's Rifle Association, giving them more control over developing com p e t i t i o n s f o r w o m e n . Another growing concern in our world is .22 pistol shooting' In agreement with the N.R.A., we shall resume control as from 1st July, 1946, and an Advisory Committee consisting of Col. G. Gould, Col. Granet and Mr. G. W. Cafferata has been formed, and we feel sure that these gentlemen will have the confidence of .22 pistol shooters. (Hear, hear.) The Rifleman, owing to a better paper allowance, has been in creased to 72 pages and cover, and an issue of from 5,000 to 6,0(X) quarterly copie^. The latter is still insufficient to meet the demand. In view of the fact that it costs over £800 per annum to give and post to each club its free copy of each issue, the Council are to consider an increase of the club subscription to meet this and other expanding expenses in the administration of the Society. Two outstanding financial benefits came to aid the Society's funds for the present and future. The first was a bequest from the late M. G. K. Barnes, who left the Society over £600. The second was the admittance of the Society as a Charity by the Inland Revenue authorities. Besides the professional assistance mentioned in the Report, we particularly wish to thank Captain J. L. Milne for his most valuable services. (Hear, hear.) The initiation of the Codrington Memorial Fund to provide an endowed annual competition bearing our late President's title and subscribed for by liiinimiim contributions of 5s. from affiliated clubs and friends has now reached £450, but we are confident that a second and final reminder this year will go a long Way to complete the £1,000 required. During the year we were honoured by a signed photograph of Field-Marshal J. C. Smuts, the Prime Minister of South Africa, and a 'Vice-President of the Society. It was accompanied by a written message of goodwill, and the photograph, insetted in The Rifleman, was sent to all clubs. We also had highly valued commendations from Field-Marshal Viscount Alexander and Field-Marshal Lord Birdwood. I would like to refer to the presence of representatives from all the five Dominions. I think this meeting would like to remit its thanks to the High Commissioners for the great interest they have always maintained in our affairs. (Hear, hear.) I cannot conclude these remarks without remembering the arduous and loyal support I have received from my colleagues on the Council and the Executive Committee. To crown a year of real achievements, Field-Marshal Lord Milne has done us the honour of accepting the Presidency of the Society. Members of the staff on Service are gradually returning, and before long it is hoped the office will be up to full strength. For those who remained in the Society's service it must be repeated that the work performed was beyond praise, and the thanks of the Society are surely due to Mr. Pethard, Mr. Tucknott and their band of stalwarts for the hard work put in under the harassing conditions prevailing in the last six years. (Applause.) Mr. Bancroft; Mr. Chairman, I should like to put one or two questions on the Accounts. I have heard your Report, Mr. Chair man, and there are quite a number of remarks which coincide with my own feeling about this Association. I refer to the last paragraph in The Rifleman, at the end of your Report:—" Although the financial results achieved in 1945 were not unsatisfactory in view of the abnormal conditions prevailing, the Council are seriously concerned by the increased, and still increasing, costs being experienced in the current year ; especially as these are coupled with shortage of commodities for supp y to- affiliated clubs." Well, gentlemen, you are passing these costs on to the riflemen. Salaries and wages have gone up by about £7(X), but that does not perturb me and should not perturb the Society, because if you are paying good salaries and you are getting the work we have just heard about from our stalwarts, the Committee and the Secretary, then we shall come to efficiency. What I ask is for the Council to push for all they are worth for ammunition and guns. In other words, as Mr. Churchill said : " Give us the tools and we will do the work." Take your Accounts for the last sk years and you will find that your income was £59,0(X) for the six years, and the expenses have come to £50,000, leaving £9,000, out of which you have increased the prizes given to riflemen by £2,365, and put into your own coffers, thus creating a miniature Bank of England, £7,000 over the six years. i You have got at the moment a miniature Bank of England. What itre the riflemen getting ? If you do not encomage them the number of riflemen will dwindle and they will probably go elsewhere. That is my feeling. I may be wrong, but I think 1 am right. Then t^e ourselves in relation to another very big concern—the National Rifle Association We compare with them very favourably in this way— they have £12,000 working capital and we have £13,000. Are we going to be nationalised, or taken over by the N.R.A. ? I hope not. We, the Essex County, are holding a meeting commencing on Satm- day and we are going to hold it for a week. With regard to the prize I money, I have had to say that the whole of the entry fees will be ' devoted to prize money, and the individual proportion allotted to each class will be dependent on the entries. What are the S.M.R.C. giving us? What are they .going to do? I see that in 1945, out of atotal ; income of £13,917, the amount you gave to the Coimties was £116, or less than £2 5s. per coimty. 1 am going to appeal to you and the Council to see that when I I go down and open my post on Saturday morning I can say that I have received a handsome donation from the S.M.R.C. for our prizes, i Then you are going to keep us together. You will not do that by : creating all these wonderful securities. You have, I notice, about I £38,000 of securities, and " Mayleigh" was bought in 1940 for £2,900, I and today that must be worth much more. You are creating wonder ful assets and 1 do ask you gentlemen to be kind enough to consider I giving a handsome donation to e\ery County which runs a meeting j commencing this year so they can carry on. Mr, Hughes : I would like to support those comments to the full, inasmuch as many of the things which Mr. Bancroft has noted j I myself would have liked to have noted. I would like to point out to you that if you make this money or get this money, you surely must show some consideration for the County and other organisa tions who run leagues and shoulder a lot of the work that is necessary 1 in keeping this movement going and who receive, financiafiy, no 1 support whatsoever. I would like to state that my own particular organisation in 1944 received a grant of the enormous sum of £4 I towards its e-xpenses, and in 1945 did not receive the £4 because they ■ did not write and ask for it. I think that shows a verj' niggardly I attitude. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Jacklin : Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to have heard the remarks of the two previous speakers frorn the hall here. I never thought people were so interested in the affairs of the Headquarters of the S.M.R.C. and the Society generally. So far as I am concerned, I do disagree with the first speaker, Mr. Bancroft, insofar as he seems to be satisfied with the expense item for salaries ] and wages of £5,881, which is an increase of £700 on the previous year. I am certainly not. From my experience, which has been pretty wide and increasing in the last two years, of what clubs get from the S.M.R.C. headquarters, I do not think we are getting anything uke 1 value for money. If I looked at my own business and saw an expense item of £5,881 for salaries, and compared that with the muddle and ^ obvious inefficiency, particularly on the Accounts side, I should certainly have something to say about it. I think I should be mclmed to cut out the £5,000 and say it was worth the £881. Quite obviou^y, particularly of late, you are shouldering as much as you possibly I can of the extra work on the Counties, and with regard to the ban on anybody connected with a County who runs a league, however small, being able to enter the S.M.R.C. league, a decision which was taken without real reference to the clubs, or at least, the affiliated counties, I would like to know what we, as members of the S.M.R.C., are entitled to do. It is quite obvious that muddle and inefficiency has been shown, particularly, I say, for the past two years. I can quite well imderstand why the S.M.R.C. wants to get rid of a lot of its work—it has done so already—and I notice m the report in The Rifleman a moan from the Secretary—a real rnoan— to the effect that upwards of 8(X) clubs have ceased to exist dmmg the year and that is likely to continue. That is his forecast—I of the true forecasts that he has made, in my experience. If that is . so, and we find 800 less clubs affiliated to the S.M.R.C., with a rising salary list of £700, with less work by far due to the County Associa tions running then- own leagues, and with the threat of a further reduction in membership, I completely fail to see how any extra expense can be borne by the Society, and rather would I expect to see, as a business concern would expect to see if its turnover and its business was being reduced and likely to be reduced, some economies started in the right direction. So far as the clubs are concerned and so far as the Counties are concerned, the miserable grant and the utter lack of consideration as in the case of the second speaker, who has not even been given h^ miserable £4, is very marked indeed. So far as the activities of the S.M.R.C. are concerned, it can only thrive by having a Coimcii that really understands and is willing to accede what the members WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK4 T H E R I F L E M A NSummer, 1946. and the County Associations really want—(hear, hear)—and that does not openly insult and flout members' opinions and ignore them completely. I was very sorry I was not in Edinburgh to hear Mr. Kerr propose the vote of censure which 1 see the Advisory Committee adopted, which coincides with my own very definite ideas from personal contact with the Secretary and his Executive Committee— 1 nearly said " yes-men." I consider it is a dictatorship and I see t h a t M r. K e i r t h o u g h t l i k e w i s e . I s a y h e r e a n d n o w t h a t u n l e s s t h i s Council and the Executive Committee, and above all the Secretary and his partner Mr. Tucknott, are prepared to listen to reason from i n d i v i d u a l s a n d c l u b s a n d a s s o c i a t i o n s , a n d t o r e a l i s e , fi r s t a n d f o r e mo st, th at th e y an d e ve ryone, pai d o r otherw ise , are servants of the S.M.R.C., which simply means they are the servants of the clubs. Unless you are servants and not dictators, then you will find—I warn you of this, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Secretary and Council—that any suggested increase in the subscriptions of clubs and individuals will be resisted to the utmost. (Hear, hear.) I agree with Mr. Bancroft that this is the time to open your coffers and give the clubs some of the benefits which very largely, from the trading point of view at least, as Mr. Bancroft has pointed out, they have provided. 1 would like to know, Mr. Chairman, what is the reason for the increase of £700 in salaries and wages. Then there is an item here which did not appear at all in 1944—an item of £50 14s. for legal expenses. I would certainly like to know what that is for. 1 see that Travelling, Representatives and Motor Expenses show an increase of over £200. That is a little matter of an extra £4 per week which does n o t s e e m t o t r o u b l e s o m e p e o p l e , b u t i t d o e s m e . 1 w o u l d l i k e t o know exactly what that represents. General expenses, I see, are up 100 per cent. A small item, i^rhaps, as the total is only £82. Then I see that the poor bid auditor, notwithstanding the increase, the colossal increase in work which the Secretary and his band of followers have to cope with, gets exactly the same at £52 10s. One item I should like confirmation of is in regard to the debtors on the assets side of the Balance Sheet. Are those genuine debtors ? I mean, does that amount include goods and perhaps services invoiced to clubs, for badges, ammunition, etc., which have been purchased during the twelve months by the Society and which have been actually supplied to clubs ? I mentioned before the muddle on the Accounts side, and 1 mention this now because in the previous year, due to the --from the Accounts point of view—the suicidal system adopted, clubs are mvoxced for goods, badges, etc., as soon as the order is received, and at the end of 1944—I am speaking now from absolute expenence because I had the invoices in my possession at the time— we had some twelve invoices for badges, and I have a letter here from the Secretary. If he would like me to read it I will do so. The l^ter IS signed by Geo. Pethard, but his name seems to be bandied about by every Tom, Dick and Harry ; apparently anybody can sign his name and nobody knows who it is unless he knows Mr. Peth^d s personal signature. I happen to know this was signed by Ti^knott. He confirms to me that in February, 1945, the S.M.R.C. w^ owing my club several badges which they had not been able to purchase. That was in February, 1945. I take it that from an accounts pomt of view those invoices were passed through the bc^ks as sales, entered in the sales ledger, and those not paid are taken as debtors. At that tune my club was not the only one involved by any means. It was not until late 1945 that we got the badges us well back in 1944, so, Mr. Chairman, no purchase was made, or could have been made, in that year, and so tar as the debtors were concerned, unless, of course, some provision L .S®, ^i und not purchased, the item would reply to tLt should be glad, Mr. Chairman, if you would fh Member : May I ask if Mr. Jacklin is making a charge that Sid1^hl™dL5 ? Auditor, are incorrect Mr. Bancroft: No, sir, I do not think he is. Member : Mr. Jacklin made some comments about the certified Accounts of the Society with what appeared to be the definite T^wfnf accounts were incorrect and misleading. I want, Mr. Chairman, to ask through you if Mr. Jacklin has definite irformation that that is right or whether it is only a suggestion just made at large without any confirmation. I would like to ask Mr whateJei'fo'r thetgg'^s: Associ-ufon ThP^ ho ^ comparison with the National Rifle We have an income of approximately £12,000, and I am not wolried in the least by the £5,000 salaries and wages, but what I am going to ask the Council to do is this. When I was an instructor I was asked by my class the difference between salaries and wages. 1 said : " Salaries are paid to those who do not work and wages are paid to the workers." Let us have the salaries and wages split up in the P r o fi t a n d L o s s A c c o u n t s o w e c a n s e e w h a t t h e s a l a r i e s a r e a n d what the wages are. Then we have another item which is causing trouble at the moment. You have an item there of approximately £9,000 this year which 1 term gross profit. It is put down as contributions of affiliated clubs, but that is an item which is gross profit brought from the trading account, but you pull wool over our eyes in that we cannot see what the purchases are and what the sales are. That is the thing which causes a lot of trouble. I am quite satisfied to accept that £5,000 f^or debtors, because not only has it been certified by the Auditors, who arc Char tered Accountants, and they would not have given their certificate if it was not perfectly correct, but on the one side you have the £5,000 for debtors, which is. arrived at after making provisibn for bad and doubtful debts, and on the other side you will find creditors for £5,0(X). You will see the creditors cover the trade debtors, so you have a contra. I do not think any accusation was made by our friend here and I am quite sure he is prepared to take what the Auditors have signed as perfectly true. I do, anyway. Mr. Jacklin : Apparently our friend here does not seem to think that anything in these Accounts should be questioned or criticised at all, but that is the object of this meeting. It does not mean to say I am making any accusation. All I want is to be satisfied that an ordinary accounts matter is clear. I cannot sec at the moment that it is, nor do I quite agree with Mr. Bancroft when he says there is provision for bad debts. I cannot see there should be any bad debts. So far, the clubs have been invoiced with a few badges or with other things which have not been delivered because they are not in existence, but when they are delivered those debts will be paid. I mentioned the matter because of the system, which is still working today. We order goods today—ammunition, badges or whatnot— and the day after tomorrow we receive an invoice, but it will be donkey's weeks afterwards before we get the stuff. That is the system which is obviously operating in the department at the present time which is fraught, if I may put it in this way, with the greatest diflSculty. So far as the Auditor is concerned, any Auditor that goes through the sales ledger and checks all invoices with that account and brings the balances down properly is quite in order in saying, " I have seen the documents and vouchers and have checked the items through " ; if it is not disclosed to him that they represent goods which have not been purchased or which have not been supplied, he do^ not know anything at all about it and he is quite in order in giving a certificate that he has seen all the vouchers. The Chairman : I will ask the Auditor to deal with that point. I hope he will satisfy you. Mr. Jacklin : If the Auditor will clarify that point I shall be quite satisfied. The Chairman : I am going to ask Mr. Pethard to deal with your main remarks, but so far as the vote of censure passed by the Advisory Committee is concerned, as you know, that Committee tenders advice to the Council and it is up to the Council to make up its mind whether it is advice which they can follow or not. For years we have always said we have not been able to compete on the Continent in certain types of matches because we shoot in one position only. I am perfectly confident a lot of people get a great deal of fun out of shooting standing or kneeling and because we saw fit to hold this competition the Advisory Committee passed a vote of censure. I, personally, think they need not have gone out of their way to do that. So fax as the future of the Society is concerned, you will understand that during the past six years it has been very difficult to do anything, but we have discussed the question of overhauling the machinery of the Society and seeing what can be done to improve its wortog. We have appointed a Committee to go into the matter and I hope this meeting will rest content with that statement. It has been sug gested, for instance, that we change our name from the Society of Miniature Rifle Clubs to the National Small-bore Association. There are a good many other points as well; I only mention that by the way . Mr. Hollewell (of Messrs. John Craggs and Co.): I think the ques tion you put was whether items were charged up prior to delivery. Jacklin : Pardon me, but are you "the Auditor ? The Chairman : I said he was the Auditor. Will you please sit down. Mr. Jacklin : I did not hear you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Hollewell: I think your question was whether items were charged up and debited to the club prior to the delivery of the goods. T h e a n s w e r i s " n o . " WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKSUAIMER, 1946. T H E R I F L E M A N The Secretarj' : There are two or three specific points which Mr. Jacklin has raised. In the first place, he objects to the £700 addition to salaries. 1 should inform Mr. Jacklin, because he is a more recent member of our Society, that half a dozen of our staff went into the services. Those fellows came back and we had to pay them in accor dance with the normal increment they would have cot if they had remained with the Society. That more or less accounts for the £700. The next item referred to was Travelling, Representatives and Motor Expanses, £349. Well, we have had for ten years a travelling representative in Scotland, Mr. Tom Walker. He came back to the service of the Society at the beginning of last year, so his salary and travelling expenses had to be provided. The next point you raised was legal charges £50. I think you will agree with me that that was well spent when I tell you, as the Chairman has told you in his speech, that we have been admitted as a Charity, and in order to be admitted as a Charity, we had to spend certain legal charges and that accounts f o r t h i s i t e m . Assistance to County Associations. I think the Chairman has also covered this point to some extent. He has told you that we propose to resume trading grants to the County Associations according to the business done by their clubs with the Society. Mr. Bancroft was perfectly correct when he said that this £9,900 was gross profit. It is gross profit but we cannot honestly give to all the Counties the same amount, because every one of them does not contribute the same amount. There has to be variety in the amounts that we can give to County Associations, and a fair system is .to give in accordance with the amounts we derive from them. We used to give a rough and ready sort of £4 per annum to each Association as a grant, but w e d i s c a r d e d t h a t t h r e e o r f o u r y e a r s b e f o r e t h e w a r. I n the first year of the war it was very doubtful if the Society could go on at all, and therefore we had to resume the old rough and ready grant of £4 per annum and it used to run up to £200 per annum. This grant, limited to £25 per aiuium to any county, is a fair one because the people who contribute most to the Society will get the biggest ^ant. We have always felt sympathetic to the County Associations. They are between the devil and the deep sea so far as finance is concerned. A club can obtain its finance from its members by what they spend in the club ; the Society can deal with the clubs and make a profit; but the County Association very often cannot get sufficient grants from local people to maintain the Association. We have always felt sympathetic with the County Associations and that is the reason why we have initiated tliis proportionate grant and we are resuming it now at the earliest opportunity. I think that explains the County grant system and the principle which the Society has adopted, which we believe to be the fairest way. We hope when the next balance sheet comes out you will see that we have given to the County Associations not a few pounds, but a very substantial a m o u n t — £ 3 0 0 o r £ 4 0 0 . Mr. Gilbert: I am connected with a County Association and I should like to ask, first of all, why you should make a limit of £25 per annum if the money is coming out of our own trading ; secondly, as you have a substantial amount in hand, why should not this grant be made retrospective according to our trade during the past six years. My own club is faced with a very serious position. A lot of money has to be spent on delapidations and repairs and that sort of thing, and we are faced with increasing charges. I would like to know why you have increased the price of ammunition by another 2s. to cover the increased charges and so forth. I do not know upon what conditions the Society buy ammunition, but if their profit is a percentage on the price the makers charge, that must have gone up too. Obviously, if the makers increase the price of ammunition the Society gets more out of it. We have been told that 800 clubs have gone out of existence through lack of supplies. Surely, it would be far better if we shouldered such increase and so give the clubs useful shooting encouragement. I am also interested in the question of rifles. I understand that the Prototype rifle will be available at Edinburgh, but will there be enough rifles there to make a competition possible ? Thirdly, if the Society is a Charitable Institution how are you going to describe your trading activities and give the 2 per cent to the clubs ? I did not think a charitable institution was allowed to trade. If you are going to reconstitute the Society the trading will have to become a separate part altogether, will it not? You tell us that it costs you £800 a year to print and distribute The Rifleman. The Rifleman seems to me to receive a very small contribution from the advertising it carries ; surely the advertising could be expanded to bring in a great part of this money. In any case, we pay for The Rifleman in our subscriptions, and if it costs you £800 to distribute you are only giving us back the money we paid for it. Mr. Cecil Mack (Vice-Chairman) : We have listened to various criticisms, not very complimentary, of the actions of the Executive Committee, but this meeting is called for the purpose of getting criticism, and I welcome it. I do not agree with a lot that has been said and I did not understand some of it but I have no doubt answers can be given. The only thing I want to say is that I think Mr. Jacklin is exceeding his privileges when he makes a direct attack upon two members of the staff" of this Society. (Hear, hear.) He mentioned t h e m b y n a m e . T h e m e m b e r s o f t h e s t a f f " a c t u n d e r t h e instructions of the Executive Committee and I think Mr. Jacklin c a n t a k e i t t h a t t h e t w o m e m b e r s h e n a m e d h a v e c a r r i e d o u t o u r instructions. (Hear, hear.) If Mr. Jacklin or any other member has any complaint to make about the actions of Mr. Pethard or Mr. Tucknott, the complaints should be made, to the Committee a n d s h o u l d n o t b e ' m a d e o f t h e s e i n d i v i d u a l s b v n a m e . I t is not fair. As regards the actions of the Committee: As I say, we seem to have incurred a good deal of criticism, but we can take it. Our heads are bloody but they are unbowed. Mr. Bancroft: In reply to the last speaker, the criticisms 1 put up are backed by black and white figures. With £14,000 income in one year Mr. Mack : I did not refer to this gentleman. I particularly referred to Mr . Jacklin. Mr. Jacklin : In reply to the last speaker, I certainly mentioned the names of Mr. Pethard and Mr. Tucknott, but contrarv to the view expressed by the last speaker that they take their instructions from the Committee, my personal experience is otherwise and I completely disagree with what he said. It should be so, I agree, but the boot is on the other foot and that can well be proved. The Committee take their instructions from Messrs. Pethard and Tucknott. The Chairman ; May I say Mr. Jacklin : If I want to make a complaint to the Committee, I must write to the Secretary of the S.M.R.C. The Chairman : Have you finished all you have got to say ? Mr. Jacklin : Hardly, Mr. Chairman. The Chairman : Would you mind sitting down ? May I say that I have never had two more loyal people working under me than the two jjeople mentioned and I do not think this is the place to make these accusations. Would anybody else like to raise any questions ? A Member : May we have some replies to the comments made by Mr . Gilbert? The Secretary : I think Mr. Gilbert's first criticism was with regard t o a m m u n i t i o n — w h y w e d o n o t b e a r t h e b u r d e n o f t h e e x t r a c o s t and the increased charge made by the manufacturers of ammunition. He feels that the Society should have borne that cost and suffered a reduced profit at the end of the year. That is a very fair suggestion, but not only are the costs of what we buy going up, but our own costs, as has been stated in the speech today, have been going up. Another thing is that we have lost more in transit and all sorts of things hap pened during the past year which have not happened in previous years. Then we cannot get wood for boxes in which to pack the ammunition. If anybody in this room can help us to get wood at a reasonable price in order to make boxes for the ammunition I wish he would help the Society. We must pack ammunition in wood, otherwise the railway companies wili not carry it. That is one thing. Then our percentage on ammunition works out at 15 per cent. If you think that the Society is overcharging because it makes 15 per cent profit on ammunition, I ask you to go to any firm and find out what their gross profit is, and I guarantee that almost every firm in this country works on at least a 25 per cent margin. We have not in the past been deemed a charitable institution ; we have only just got that benefit; it has taken a year of struggle to get the matter through, with the aid of the Auditors and Solicitors. The benefit, Mr. Gilbert, is going to revert, as all our funds revert, to the benefit of the Society generally. It is no good verging on com mercial suicide in order to get the plaudits of people here for having done an heroic thing. We want the Society to go on. It is the province of the Executive Committee to look carefully into every expense we have to shoulder, and as we told you on the 5s. increase we put on 6d. Is that excessive? A Member : You put on another 2s. The Secretary : This year the manufacturers put on another 7s. 6d. —that is, 7s. 6d. to us—and we found that the 6d. was insufficient and we put on 2s. As a matter of fact, worked, out on a percentage basis, it would mean, over £2 per 1,000 selling price. We did not know how the balance sheet was going to turn out, and if we could possibly have done without the increase we should have done so. With a view to keeping ammunition cheap for the clubs, our Com mittee is doing its utmost to get alternative ammunition which will provide cheaper shooting. Mr. Wright: The Secretary has not answered the question as to why there should be a ceiling on the discount allowed to clubs. Surely, in pursuance of the policy of giving the greatest benefit to those who do most business with the Society, no ceiling should be fixed at all. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKthe rifleman Summer, 1946. The Secretary : Mr. Wright, before we raised the cost of ammuni tion we referred the whole matter to the Accountants and they studied our accounts and the position of the Society and they felt that it was quite a reasonable thing to do and a safe one for the Society s future. Mr. Polden : Mr. Chairman, I have listened very carefully to the criticisms which have been raised and I rise because I feel there is some lack of appreciation of the situation. I must confess that as I see it there have been provocative statements made and . controversial subjects opened, and what strikes me is this. It seems that most matters are referred to the Auditors—Mr. Pethard just said that the matter of the price of ammunition was referred to them—- and I feel that the tenor of the meeting shows a very definite lack of appreciation on the part of the Executive Committee as to what the actual rifleman, who goes on the range and pulls the trigger, needs. How is that gap going to be bridged ? I have a suggestion to make which I would like very seriously considered because the tenor of this meeting has thrown it up. I feel that the Executive Committee are going on the facts in front of them like a group of business men without taking into consideration the views of the active members who are actually doing the shooting. If the sport is going to succeed you have got to have a new intake of people and new clubs, and everyone identified with an association such as this should have a common purpose, singleness of purpose and unanimity of mind and decision, and that can only come about by having the full facts of the situation in front of you. I am afraid the Executive Council are out of touch with the ordinary shooting members and I suggest that what we want is a development committee, and that members of the Development Committee should have certain qualifications and should be elected constitutionally through the County Associa tions. That committee should advise the Executive Committee on all matters relating to development and its advice should be acted upon. With regard to future development, yon have to run your race, ladies and gentlemen, before you get your prize—the 2 per cent grant. Mr. Gilbert suggested that this 2 per cent should be retro spective and I thoroughly agree with him. If you take and assess the facts of the situation in the light of present-day conditions through your county associations, you will find certain counties with energetic secretaries who want to get on and do something, but have no finance. The point is this ; if they are going to develop they want the prize before they run the race, before they trade, and therefore the grant should be made in the light of known facts. It can only be assessed if it is assessed by a body of men who are emotionally tied up with the future progress of this sport, and not by a complacent committee—I will withdraw the word " complacent " because you are doing your best. It is doing its best on the information in front of it, but it should get its information by members of the Council going to the members on the ranges and rubbing shoulders with them. There should be a tie-up between the officials at head office and the members throughout the country ; there should be a liaison officer to go around the country and report back on all these developments. Ladies and gentlemen, you are losing a vital link with what the new comer wants in rifle shooting and unless something is done they will lose their enthusiasm for the sport. I am very pleased these things have been brought forward this afternoon because whether we agree with them or not it shows that we are out to set higher standards for ourselves and aim to get something done in order that the S.M.R.C. may meet the rapidly changing conditions. Mr. Hughes : Mr. Chairman, surely you must agree that this is like a ray of sunshine coming through these murky clouds. 1 wish to refer to one point which I was going to raise under any other business, but I do not know whether you would like me to deal with it now . The Chairman : Will you leave it for the present. I think we have had a real good field day. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I am the most blackened character in the room today—not for the first time. The adoption of the Report and Acdounts has been proposed. Mr. Bancroft : I will second the adoption of the report. The Chairman: Those in favour? Against 7 That is carried, Mr. Bancroft : I was going to second, also, Mr. Polden's proposi tion. I would like that done. Mr. Polden : I think my proposal should be brought forward as a m o t i o n a t t h i s m e e t i n g . The Chairman : I told you we had appointed a Committee, and I can only tell you that everything that has been said has been taken dovm and will be very seriously considered. There is not the slightest doubt about that. I am not fencing with you. We know what you have said and we shall follow it up energetically. A Member ; I propose to put a motion under the heading of other business. Mr. Bancroft ; I think you should put Mr. Polden's motion to the meeting. The Chairman : Would you tell us exactly what it is, Mr. Polden ? Mr. Polden : My motion is that this meeting approves that a Development Committee be set up. The mernbers of that Develop ment Committee should be nominated by election through the county associations and the Committee's terms of reference te clearly defined as follows : the Executive Committee will take their lead with regard to all matters relating to the development and progress of rifle shooting, and the Finance Committee will also take their lead as to expenditure under these heads from that Committee. A Member : Mr. Chairman, if you can take that proposal now, you will, I take it, accept an amendment. Mr. Bancroft : Mr. Chairman, Mr. Polden is prepared to bring his motion forward under any other business. The Chairman : May we now deal with the election of Treasurers. Will somebody propose the election of the Treasurers. Mr. J. Gibson : I propose that Mr. Geo. F. Booth and Mr. P. G. Richardson be elected Joint Honorary Treasurers. M r. C o o k : I s e c o n d t h a t . The Chairman : It has been proposed and .seconded that Mr. Geo. F Booth and Mr. P. G. Richardson be elected Joint Honorary Trea surers. Those in favour? Against? That is carried. We have now got to appoint Auditors and fix their remuneration. They have done their work extremely well. This should be proposed and seconded from the body of the hall. Will somebody take the n e c e s s a r y a c t i o n ? , ■ r u Mr. Bancroft : I would like to propose the re-election of the Auditors at a slight increase in salary. They must have had more work and I think we should leave it to the Executive Committee to decide the amount of the fee. Mr. Parkin : I second that. The Chairman : Those in, favour? Against? That is carried. Mr. Hughes : Mr. Chairman, before Mr. Polden's motion is proposed, I have a recommendation to make. I do not know how we stand in regard to putting propositions, but when I endeavoured to get into the S.M.R.C. to put in a proposition I found I was too late. The reason I want to put a proposition forward is this; Various comments have been passed at meetings such as that of the County Advisory Committee sitting in London and we have asked for a recommendation to be forwarded to the Executive that the Executive should be composed of at least fifty per cent of representatives of the County Associations. That was the unanimous vote of the Advisory Committee. For some unknown reason, possibly by mistake on the part of the Executive, discussion on that point was allowed. It is perhaps a matter of regret that discussion was allowed ; nevertheless, it took place. We have referred before to this question of the work which the County Associations do. They shoulder a lot of work and get no reward except the thanks of their various members, which is all they expect, of course. Surely it must have got to the ears of the present Executive that there is a feeling that the Society should keep more in touch with the clubs and associations and that more representation should be allowed. At the moment we have the peculiar position of the Council electing its own members. They ask for nominations and then the Council vote whether they should be members or not, and we have the peculiar position of the Council members holding 100 votes whereas some of us representing 100 clubs still only have one vote. I think one reason given for this is so there shall not be constant changes. Many clubs regard your present policy as lousey and we should welcome some change of policy, and we are asking not that it should be gradually effected, but that something should be done forthwith. I ask you to listen to the words of warning. Perhaps they have not reached your ears yet. Is it not far better, instead of having a Development Committee, which would only find itself in the position of the Advisory Committee, of which nobody seems to take much notice, to have representation on the Executive Committee. If you do not do that, well—you have got to consider these moves which are being made towards forming another Association. That is meeting with great support. Is it in the interest of rifle shooting that this movement should be divided. Why not listen to the words of warning and realise that your policy is not supported and very soon you are going to have another organisation which will split the movement in two as a consequence. Where shall we be then ? Mr. Polden : This is an eye-opener to me. I had very little idea of the constitution of the Society and having heard Mr. Hughes I consider that if there is anything not in accordance with present day needs it is your constitution. It comes as a revelation to me. Mr. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKSummer, 1946. 7 Chairman, I suggest if you want to reorganise the constitution of the Society you should study the magnificent piece of machinerj' that has been set up by the British Federation of Master Printers. Unless the clubs have more representation on the Council your income will go and the words of warning of Mr. Hughes will come true. There is no reason why another association should not be set up tomorrow. If that is the constitution, I withdraw my suggestion of a Development Committee and I suggest that seats on the Council become vacated and that nominations should be invited from the County Associations for new members of the Council. I suggest thtu at least half the Council should resign if that is the constitution of this Society. The Chairman : If I may express a personal opinion, I would ask y o u t o r e m a i n c o n t e n t w i t h t h e f o r m a t i o n o f t h i s C o m m i t t e e w h i c h has been appointed on this very question. Some of us feel that things might have been put right some years ago, but during the war it was impossible to do anything. I agree that a great deal of reor ganisation can be done. We have had a most instructive and informa tive meeting ; we have received a lot of words straight from the shoulder and I do not regret them in the slightest. We have only one object in view, and that is to make the Society successful. In spite of what we have heard this afternoon I am bound to say it has been remarkably successful, but notwithstanding that there is no reason w h y i t s h o u l d n o t b e b i g g e r. T h e t r o u b l e i s t h i s . Yo u k n o w t h e Government is considering the whole policy it is going to adopt towards rifle shooting—it is part of cadet training—and until it comes to a decision nobody knows what the position of rifle shooting is going to be. There is a tendency to criticise the production of the No. 6 rifle. That rifle began on our Executive Committee and I know the difificulties these j^ople have had. Then came the next question— do riflemen like it and can we get it manufactured. Mr. Pethard tells me that if he had 50,000 of the rifles he could get rid of them. The position has been extremely difficult. I have been associated with rifle shooting all my life and you'can take it from me that every single point mentioned this afternoon will be gone into most ex haustively and anything that can be done to put this Society on a more firm basis than it is now, you may take it will be done. I think if you leave it with us you will have no reason to regret it. Mr. Polden : Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, we have had the same situation in the past. Let us benefit from the experience of the past. When these recommendations have been put forward in the past absolutely no action has taken place. Mr. Chairman, this is not a case of who is right and who is wrong ; it is a case of what is right and what is wrong. Twelve months will elapse before we meet again and I suggest that before we leave this room this afternoon we should have some assurance from you, sir, that some action will be taken. We want to go away from this meeting with the assurance that some action is going to be taken, not with a promise that it is going to be referred to a Committee, in which event another twelve months will go by and the same situation arise again. The Chairman : I naturally have not had time to consult the members of the Committee, but my own idea is that after our meeting in September we ought to be then in a position to put something before members. I think we might have another meeting in October. Would that satisfy you ? Mr. Polden : I am going to propose to this meeting that the meeting approves that 50 per cent of the seats on the Council be vacated and that an election takes place, members being nominated by the County Associations. Mr. Jacklin : I second that wholeheartedly. A Member : Might I ask one question. You mentioned that a Committee had been set up to go into all these matters. May we have the names of that Committee and how many of them represent the County Associations and Clubs ? The Chairman : The Committee was formed from the Executive Committee. It consists of the two Treasurers, who I think are riflemen of some distinction. Colonel Sutton, also a great rifleman, and Mr. Mack, a V ice-Chairman. The Member : There is nobody there actively running a County Association. Colonel Sutton : I beg your pardon. Very much I am. The Member : We do not get any say in these matters at all. We write so much and say so much, but no notice is taken of it at all. I suggest that the Committee be strengthened by the addition of active members of County Associations. Mr. Hughes : In that way you will get the County Associations' views. Mr. Polden : If the members of the Council have 100 votes to each one of an ordinary member my proposition does not hold. We are in a cleft stick. If as I suggest 50 per cent of the members of the Council resign, the other 50 j^r cent could outvote the new members straight away. The only obvious thing to do is to take things in your own hands and form your own Association and pay your affiliation fees to the County Association. If then the S.M.R.C. wish to partici pate they can be your headquarters. You can send forward your representative to the Executive Committee and they will arrange the b a s i s f o r a l e v y o n y o u r s u b s c r i p t i o n s . " Lt.-Col. T. Sutton, M.B.E. : Ladies and gentlemen, speaking as a pretty active rifleman, I think I am in fairly close touch with a broad view of rifle shooting, and I must say that I have very great sympathy indeed with some of the wwds expressed this afternoon. But do not expect too much from that. The thing is that the Society has been through extraordinarily difficult times. A large amount of work has been done by the Society and your Committee, which I would remind you, is entirely unpaid ; it has involved travelling long distances, frequently more than once a month, and spending laborious days working out these things. We have gone over a great many of the points which have been brought up this afternoon. To say we are satisfied is completely wong. Nobody can be satisfied with Articles of Asso ciation which were drawn up about 1903. Those block votes of 100 which may have been all right in those days would not for one moment be put into use today, and never have been. With regard to the reorganisation of the Society, I would say that as at present constituted the Society is running extraordinarily well. It has an enormous amount of interest taken in it; its finances are thoroughly sound ; and the large majority of the members of your Council are active rifle shots. I will get the number read out to you. A M e m b e r : A r e o r w e r e ? Col. Sutton : I think three-quarters of them are. With regard to the question of getting fifty fresh people to serve on the Coimcil, that sounds very easy, but it is not easy to get fifty—or rather twenty- five people who will attend—that would be one from each County. You will find it is not easy to get men from outlying counties to attend regularly. A M e m b e r : Tr y i t . Col. Sutton : We have tried it, but I do think out of fairness to everybody attempts should be made again. In the past we have picked out active men from each county who would be able to come to our deliberations in London. We could have our meetings in other parts of the country, but that has been tried and it is not alto gether satisfactory. We have formed this sub-committee, which has of course power to co-opt, and I am perfectly convinced that the sub-committee will co-opt keen men from County Associations who can send somebody to it and no doubt something will be done. Whether we can go to the expense—and it is a very big expense—of altering the Articles of Association is another matter, but am sure it will be considered. You can rest assured that your Council as at present constituted is, generally speaking, a very fair representation of rifle shooting in this country. The financial side is good. There are plenty of brains on the Council. They do not make mistakes in finance, so please do not go away with the idea that the S.M.R.C. is rocky or in any way frightened of criticism. We love it. We like to know what people are thinking and what they want. Thank goodness we know what a certain section of you are thinking and we know what a certain section want, and speaking on behalf of my colleagues I thank you very much indeed for this meeting. Mr. Hughes : We appreciate that very much ; we understand the sincerity of it. I would like to qualify my earlier remarks on the object of the County Associations having representation on the Council must not be misunderstood. It must not be thought that the County Associations want to monopolise the Council or anything like that. All they are asking for is some greater representation. That is why 50 per cent representation was mentioned and not 51 p e r c e n t ; w e w a n t b e t t e r r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o n t h e C o u n c i l . Mr. Polden : So far as I see the position, if members of the County Associations are elected as members of the Council, in that way you will get proper representation of the local shootfng men's views. That is the only way of getting it. I am very pleased to hear Colonel Sutton say that the right to 100 block votes is not to be used, so the motion which has been carried will probably help considerably. Mr. Hughes : I think everybody is satisfied with that. I rnust refer to one other thing which I would ask the Executive Committee or the Council to take note of, something of a very similar nature. We have to congratulate you on the interest you are taking now in pistol shooting. We have heard various remarks on the subject of pistol shooting and at the N.R.A. meeting it was said that this lusty child was now a fully grown man. The fact remains that the pistol shooting fraternity is a body that needs looking after, and following on the recommendation of the Advisory Committee it was WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK8 T H E R I F L E M A N Summer, 1946. agreed that a Pistol Advisory Committee should be formed. Every body approved and supported that, but your method of appointing the committee and your remark in your openmg statement that it has the approval of all the pistol shooting fraternity is sadly wrong, sir. It has not the approval of the pistol shooting fratermty because we do not approve of the way in which it was appointed. We all know Colonel Gould, who is the represeritative of pistol shooting on the Council. Possibly you appointed him as chairman, but here, again what representation have we on this Advisory Committee . Who appointed it ? Who is on it ? We have heard the names o Colonel Granet and Mr. Cafferata. Colonel Granet has not moved about in pistol shooting circles since the early days of the war and we do not regard him as being in touch with the movement. 1 ask that that Committee be enlarged by putting on members who are in active touch with present-day pistol shooting. Mr Polden : Colonel Sutton spoke about the difficulty of getting people to serve on Committees, but of course it is difficidt if pu confine yourself to nominations from your own Council Chamber, but if you throw it out for the rank and file to make nominations for election, then you will get somewhere. A Member : We have had a large number of veiy critical remarks made this afternoon, of which I hope the Council will take note. I would like to ask one question, and it is this—would the Council in six months from now call another meeting of the Society—call it an Extraordinary General Meeting if you like—and report to us what they have done in the period of six.months? (Hear, hear.) The Chairman : I suggested that we might meet in October. Mr. Polden : Mr. Chairman, would you like to suggest a date ? The Chairman : Can't you leave that to us ? A Member : May I suggest that the time of the meeting should be when the average rifle club official could attend—not in the after noon. The Chairman : I quite agree. Some of you seem to have got it into your heads that we are obstructing you people—nothing of the kind. When I took over from Sir Charles Walker various sug gestions were made as to what we should do when the war was over. For goodness sake do not think we want to have a monopoly. We honestly feel we have got to do something and we are going to do something. That is why the Committee was appointed. I suggest we meet again in October and probably by then we shall have some thing to tell you which will satisfy the reasonable members here today. A Member : If you held the meeting in the evening, many mote members would be able to attend. Most members find it quite impossible to get to a meeting in the afternoon, but would be able to attend if you held it in the evening. The Chairman : What day of the week would you like it to be held? Saturday or Sunday? Another Member : I suggest an evening meeting is not suitable, as many members living some distance away from London would find it difficult to get home. Mr. Rogers : I would like to suggest Sunday afternoon. A Member : Could I be told if the Pistol Advisory Committee has actually met yet? Mr. Polden : There is one thing I would like you to bring to the meeting ; that is, a full list of the names of the members of the Council and the number of meetings they have attended during the six years of war, including this year, so we may have in front of us complete information as to how the members of the Council have represented us over the past few years. The Chairman : I would remind you that there are a good many men on the Council who are extremely useful to us on certain occasions, and it caimot be expected that people who are put on the Council to watch your interests in special directions will attend very largely. I have not myself in mind when I make that suggestion. Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you are exhausted—I may say I shall shortly be—I think that concludes the business of the meeting. M r. B a n c r o f t : T h e r e i s o n e t h i n g I w o u l d l i k e t o a s k . H a v e w e received the £2,000 from the Income Tax authorities ? .The Secretary : We received £2,074 a fortnight ago. Mr. Bancroft : That makes the Bank balance over £5,000. May I again plead with the Cotnc.l and express the hope that when I open my letters on Saturday morning 1 shall find that the Society has given us a handsome grant—not £4—towards the meeting we are running. That will encourage riflemen to stay in the Association and we shall then be with you 100 per cent. I also suggest that the trading grant should be retrospective. I think you can afford to do it. The Chairman : That concludes the business, gentlemen. Mr. Baker : I think we ought to thank the pecutive Commi tee and the Council for their services during the last six years. They have carried on in spite of not being able to have meetings and I would like to move that we thank them in the usual way. A Member : I second that. The motion was carried by acclamation. Another Member : I think before we disperse we ought to pass a vote of thanks to our Chairman for his conduct in the chair this afternoon. (Applause.) The proceedings then terminated. A copy of the verbatim report of the proceedings is available. Mr. J. McCormack, in the absence of the Prcs^cnt, t „ r Ritchie of Craigdhu, presided over the Kingussie and District B.L.R.C. s annual social and prize-giving ceremony. The treasurer, Mr. F. Q. Clark, announced that the club, whose membership is now 54 had closed its first post-war season with a favourable financial balance. The Chairman was sorry to announce that Mr. Clark was shortly to leave the district, and the club was the poorer by a fine shot and efficient official. With him went their best wishes in his new surround ings. Miss W. Macdonald gracefully handed over the seasons ^"^Ladfe^s'^ui^^iss B. Macdonald. President's Prize—F. Q. Clarke. Carnegie Mr V Oae Uricle Cup—Sgt. Stewart. Macgillivray Medal—^. Frascr. TriSltoot-M^s B. Macdonald^. Q. Clark. N. Macdonald. S.M.R.C. Pnzes- F. Q. Clark, \V. Macpherson, Sgt. Stewart, C. R. Burrows, J. McCormack. Drop Point Handicap—F. Q. Clark. Bell Medal—C. R. Burrows. STOP PRESS NEWS EDINBURGH, 22nd June, 1946. SOCIETY OF MINIATURE RIFLE CLUBS National Small-bore Rifle Meeting-Final Results Home Countries International Match : England 2,931; Scotland 2,904. The Earl Haig Memorial Challenge Cup--Scottish Open Meeting Individual Championship ; 1 J. D. Young, Portlethen (the Cup and .silver niedal) 789 ,. 2 J. P. Nicoll, Perth City and County (silver inedal) 788 j 3 N. Ackroyd, Crrft^ (silver medal) 786 ; 4 A. J. Steele, Renfield (silver medal) 782 , 5 Mjss H. Mdlar, ^"''co'iinV-'seS^'^Compea^^^^^^ 1- • Middlesex (the shield and six silver medals) 1,172 ; 2 Stirlingshire (six antique bronze medals) ^'"^The I.C.I. Team Challenge Cup-for Scottish teams :'l GuardbridgeR.C ft^^^ cup and four silver medals) ; 2 Perth City and County R.C. (four bronze medals). The Chas. R. E. Bell Challenge Cup : 1 A. F. Howat, Glasgow Police ="9 small CUP) 297 : 2 A. A. Smith, Glasgow Police (silver medal) 297 . 3 F. E- pea". Twickenhim (silver medall 297 •. 4 J F. Chandler Twickenham (silver ^ 297. The Duke of Westminster Challenge Cup : 1 C. Sonley, Hull phe cup) 4UU. Veterans' Prize—No. I Competition : 1 E. Sheill, Innerleithen and District (silver '"^'^The'ciass "A" Aggregate for the Oxon Challenge Cup : 1 J. F. Chandler, Twickenham (the cup and replica) 1,382 ; 2 -I. Hall, City of Birmingham (sdver medal) 1,380 ; 3 C. Sonley, Hull (silver medal) 1,378 . 4. T. J. Knight, City ot Bir"Th?Class'3'' B " Aggregate for the " Bonehil!" Challenge Cup : 1 M'" ^ Millar, Perth City and County (the cup and replica) 1,368 ,2 W. Campbell, Dundee City Police (silver medal) 1,368 ; 3 J. S. Young, Ardeer Recreation (silver medal) 1 , 3 6 8 ; 4 C . R . G l e n , I r v i n e ( s i l v e r m e d a l ) 1 , 3 6 7 . r . i t > The Class " C " Aggregate for the NewcaUle Chronicle Challenge Cup : 1 B. Hewson, .Hull (the cup and silver medal) 981. r-i„ii.„„. r„r, ■ The Class " D " Aggregate for the Bryant and May ChaUenge Cup . 1 R. W. Scott, Redcraig (the cup and silver medd) 966. ..... p The Ladies' Championship for the Ran' 9 tr x^rii Millar, Perth City and County (the cup and replica) 584 ; 2 Miss H. Millar, Perth C i t y a n d C o u n t y ( s i l v e r m e d a l ) 5 8 3 . r - „ . , v „ „ r , n The Juniors' Competition for the ' Rucker Challenge Cup . 1 W. Young, A r d e e r R e c r e a t i o n ( t h e c u p a n d m e d a l ) 1 0 0 . . , _ . - . u n r. i r > Pistol Competition for the British Commercial Gas ChaUenge Cup ; 1 u. Harkness, S.M.R.C. member (the cup and Webley and Scmt .22 pistol) 177. The Pistol Unlimited CompeUtion : 1 D. Harkness, S.M.R.C. member (silver The 25 and 50 Yards Team Shoot: 1 City of Birmingham R.C. (four silver medals) 793 ; 2 Twickenham R.C. (four medals) TOO. The 100 Yards Team Shoot ; I Dunblane R.C. (four silver medals) 388 . 2 A r d e e r R e c r e a t i o n R . C . ( f o u r m e d a l s ) 3 8 6 . . ' . . . The " Pullar" Challenge Targe—Open Meeting Team Championship ot Scotland : 1 Perth City and County- R.C. (the targe and four silver medals) 798.5 . 2 Falkirk Lord Roberts R.C. (four bronze medals) 792.2 ; 3rd Portlethen R.C. (four m e t a l g i l t m e d a l s ) 7 8 7 . 9 . • w r • The " McLennan" Challenge Trophy—Championship of , Midlothian . 1 W. P. Anderson, Edinburgh Citizens (the trophy and silver medal) 296 ; 2 J. L a m b , P e e b l e s ( s i l v e r m e d a l ) 2 9 5 . , „ r . / - / . e n m o The " Duncan" Challenge Cup-Team Shoot : 1 Peebles R.C. (the cup) 779. The Police Triple Range Competition : 1 A. A. Smith, Glasgow Police (s^all silver cup) 297 ; 2 W. Campbell, Dundee City Police (S.M.R.C. silver spoon) 294. The Police Team Competition : 1 Glasgow Police R.C. (three E.P. cups) 876 , 2 Midlothian Constabulary, Lasswade R.C. (three hronze med^s) 853. The Sharpshooter for the Patriotic No. 2 : 1 Croftfoot R.C. (the shield and three silver medals ) ; 2 Dunfermline R.C. A (three metal gut medals). WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK9 H a m a n d P e t e r s h a m To the old-time shots the transfer of the Bisley Meeting from the famous Bisley Camp to Ham and Petersham will be regarded as " Going back home." The London meeting, the Bisley meeting of the present day, was always held at Ham and Petersham until 1922, when the National Rifle Association invited the S.M.R.C. to hold its annual London Area meetings at the mecca of marksman ship. Ample living accommodation in the district is available at ordinary prices. The Society can supply particulars upon request. The Southern and Underground railway systerns from Richmond station takes one into the heart of London within half an hour. The surrounding countryside and the entertainment amenities are second to none. We attempt to convey an impression of them by the following extracts from the guides of the Richmond, Twickenham and King- ston-upon-Thames Councils. PETERSHAM This parish, which was in 1892 added to the borough of Richmond, is first mentioned in the seienth century and is also recorded in Domesday Book as Patricesham, i.e., the home or hamlet of Patrick. The manor belonged to Chertsey Abbey until 1415, when it was surrendered to the Crown, with whom it remained until 1637, when Charles I granted the manor to William Murray, afterwards created Earl of Dysart. Petersham also furnishes the second title of the Earls of Harrington. One of them, the Lord Petersham of the Regency period, gave his name to the Petersham coat, so often portrayed in the caricatures of the time. On leaving Petersham Park, near the entrance gate of which are the Petersham Schools, erected through the energy of the first Countess Russell, we are on the main road to Ham and Kingston. Near at hand stood Bute House, once the seat of John, 4th Earl of Bute, and in later years an excellent boarding school. The building has been demolished. In the grounds stands the modem church of All Saints, erected in 1909 by Mrs. Warde, a former Petersham resident. It has an imposing campanile which contains a melodious set of chimes. Passing some fine old Stuart and Georgian residences, the visitor will pre sently reach a point where the thoroughfare winds round to the left and, passing through Harfi Common, leads on to Kingston. Here will be noticed Elm Lodge, the abode, in 1839, of Charles Dickens, who wrote part of Nicholas Nickleby during his residence here. But the road is also continued on the right until it reaches the Thames. The house nearest the river is Petersham Lodge, purchased by Sir Max Waechter, who in June, 1902, presented the freehold to the Richmond Cor poration for the preservation of the view from Rich mond Hill. It is now Queen Mary's Holiday Home for Governesses. In the a\^nue leading to Ham House is Douglas House, where for many years m the eighteenth century lived Charles, 3rd Duke of Queens- berry, and his eccentric wife, Catherine, familiarly known as " Kitty." They were patrons of the poet Gay, who often stayed there with them and wrote many of his works there. Near at hand is Petersham Church (St. Peter's), the chancel of which dates back to Norman times. The church stands on the site of an original Saxon building. The tower is said to date from 1505, when the nave of the church was rebuilt; the transepts being later additions. Within its walls are many monuments to the illustrious dead, amongst them the famous circumnavigator. Captain George Van couver, R.N. The Countess of Dysart, Duchess of Lauderdale (wife of the " L " of the notorious " Cabal") was both married and buried in the church, but there is no monument to her memory. In the churchyard lie the remains of Richard, second Earl of Mount- Edgcumbe, Captain Vancouver, the Misses Mary and Agnes Berry (literary friends of Horace Walpole), Mortimer Collins, poet and novelist, and Richard Crisp, the historian of Richmond. Recent interments here include Sir John Whittaker Ellis and Sir Thomas Skewes-Cox, successive Parliamentary representatives of the Kingston Division, who lie side by side near the wall to the left of the church. The church register dates back to 1574, and the church possesses some fine old communion plate of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Just through Petersham village is Sudbrook Park, the head quarters of the Richmond Golf Club. The clubhouse is, a fine building in the Georgian style, and was built about 1726 by the famous John, 2nd Duke of Argyll, who resided here, and died' here in 1743. The links extend over some hundred and fifteen acres of parkland and are finely timbered and pleasantly remote. They adjoin on the east the lower part of Richmond Park. A large area known as The Park Estate, overlooking Sudbrook Park Golf Course, is now undergoing residential development. The houses which are being erected there, while being quite moderately priced, should appeal to persons who appreciate good architectural design. In addition, the amenities are being carefully preserved. To readers who wish to reside in a country-like and old-world district on tne outer fringe of London, which has quick communication with the City and the West End, this building estate is one that cannot tail to appeal. The village of Ham, with its typical Old English common, is within a few minutes' walk of Sudbrook Park, and.is now .incmaea in Richmond borough, as in 1933 the parish of. Ham was divided, tne Common and major portion of the parish being added to Richmond, the remainder being taken in by Kingston. It is worthy ol note that the late Lord Fisher was a resident of Ham when appointed First Sea Lord in 1914 on the resignation of Prince Louis of Batten- berg. Other famous residents include Lord Charles Beresford, Sir Gilbert Scott, Maria Edgeworth and Hesba Stretton. From Petersham Parish Church there is a rustic footpath across what are known as Petersham Meadows, leading out into Peters- The return into Richmond is to the left, and here, on the left- hand side of the road, is Buccleuch House, built early in the eightecntn century, a former residence of the Dukes of Buccleuch, which became in 1887 the residence of Sir J. Whittaker Ellis, who then represented WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK10 T H E R I F L E M A N Summer, 1946. the Kingston Division of Surrey in Parliament. During his tenancy he and Lady Ellis were profuse in their hospitality, and entertained here many Royal and distinguished personages, amongst them the Duke and Duchess of Teck, the Duke of Cambridge, King George V and Queen Mary, when Duke and Duchess of York, and the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, then Colonial Secretary. Early in the nineteenth century Buccleuch House saw many splendid gatherings. In 1833 William IV and Queen Adelaide were entertained at a magni ficent fete. Nine years later Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Queen Adelaide, and the King and Queen of the Belgians, were received on a scale of great magnificence. In 1867 the Buccleuchs entertained the Sultan of Turkey here on his way in a Royal barge from Teddington to London. Following the course of the wall, we find at its end an opening leading to T H E R I V E R S I D E From this point the pedestrian has an uninterrupted walk by the Thames right away to Hammersmith Suspension Bridge. Imme diately on the right is a favourite riverside hostelry, " The Pigeons," the landlord of which was, until quite recently, the late Mr. W. G. East, an ex-sculling champion of England and King's Bargemaster, who was presented with the Royal Victorian Medal in 1919, the first of the professional aquatic class to be so honoured. Adjoining is " Messum's." Less than forty years ago this important pile was represented by a single boathouse, a small beer house and a dilapidated shed or two. The business was developed by the enterprise and ability of the late Mr. Richard Henry Messum, a King's Waterman, who died on 15th December, 1914. Messrs. Messum are especially famous for their skiffs, and they have built for nearly all the crowned heads of Europe. The block of buildings just opposite Messum's, formerly a brewery, were, in May, 1925, purchased by the British Legion to be used as a factory for the making of artificial flowers by disabled ex-Service men. Some 300 men are employed, and all the poppies required for Poppy Day are made here. From Messum's to the bridge stretches a succes sion of riverside gardens appertaining to various resi dences whose fronts are in Petersham Road. At one of these. Ivy Hall, William IV resided (when Duke of Clarence) ; in another, Gothic House, Madame de btael. Through the instrumentality of the late Alder man Mears, a strip of land from many of these gardens has been added to the towpath, forming a pleasant walk and now known as Mears Walk. Here is the steamboat pier, whence in the season a fleet of launches ply up and down the Thames. The visitor may gain all necessary information as to times, destinations, ^ud lares on the spot. The extensive grounds by the pier are those 01 the Richmond Club, an excellent institution of its kind for gentle men, ladies being admitted as visitors. It is called Northumberland House, and was built by the Covent Garden patentee, George Colrnan dmer, amongst whose many distinguished visitors here was Oliver Goldsmith. Some sixty years later it was the residence of Mr. William ■raynter, a wealthy gentleman, whose father is said to have realised a large fortune as the builder of the General Post Office at St. Martin's le Grand, the structure anterior to the present building. Many years ago the residence (then known as Camborne House) was "^^dpied by the Dowager Duchess of Northumberland (who died Th 1 May, 1911), whence the name which it now bears, tne large house by the Bridge, known as Tower House, was at one time the residence of the widow of Judge Haliburton, otherwise am Slick," the American humorist. HAMPT ON COUR T P ALACE 1 SI Wolsey leased it from the Prior of St. John of Jerusalem in J Hampton was just an ordinary country village. Perhaps its position on the Thames near Kingston, and its proximity to London, ar, u ^ the ruck, but it was not on the direct road to the Hospitallers probably thought they had made a gooa bargain by letting the estate to Wolsey for 99 years at £50 per <*nnuni. CARDINAL WOLSEY tvas the year that Wolsey became a Cardinal and made his brpa^^^K incontestable, and " the proudest prelate that ever thp ^ contemporary called him) lost no time in replacing nni ""P'^'^inntious building he found by a vast palace of five courts, only two of which remain. It is said that he had the site selected y eminent physicians as the healthiest within twenty miles of London, nertainly he spared no expense over sanitation fetching his water supply from Coombe Hill, which is across the Thames and some t h r e e m i l e s d i s t a n t . At the height of his power this son of a humble Ipswich tradesman was more regal than the King himself, having dukes to hold the basin while he washed his hands, and bishops to tie his shoes for him. With all his pride he had a reputation for being good to the poor, and his greatness is better shown by his conduct after his fall than by his behaviour at the height of his power. By 1526 failures abroad were beginning to undermine his influence, and Hampton Court was thrown into the breach, though its presentation to Henry apparently proved of no avail. Henry VIII pulled down all but two of the quadrangles, and much happened here during his tenancy. The most expensive monarch in English history, he turned into a " Chase " the nearest fifteen parishes in the way William the Conqueror was unjustly supposed to have done in the New Forest. The third great building period was under William III, who shunned both Whitehall and Windsor in favour of the Palace, where h e h a d t h e F o u n t a i n C o u r t ( a s w e l l a s t h e S o u t h e r n a n d E a s t e r n fronts) built by Sir Christopher Wren. He also laid out the gardens and the chestnut avenue, for which we should be grateful to him since he had no hope of living to see its glory. ROY AL ASSOCIA TIONS After reviewing the building's history some reference must be made to the many historical associations of Hampton Court. It is often said that it was here that Queen Catherine saw Henry VIII's affections alienated from her, but as the date of Anne Boleyn's nse IS very uncertain this is probably a guess. But there is no doubt that Edward VI was born here in 1537, and that here Queen Jane Seymour died and Henry was married privately, first to Catherine Howard and later to Catherine Parr. Here took place in 1551 the arrest of Protector Somerset, before his execution at the Tower, and here Philip and Mary spent their honeymoon. In JTames I's reign the celebrated Hampton Court Conference ended in an Episcopalian victory over the Puritans. Charles I was here both as a king and as a prisoner. Sin(^ then the Palace has slowly and very humanly grown old and sedate. George III (who loathed the place) converted it into a kind of select home for stray celebrities, among the earfier inmates being the stadtholder William V of Holland, driven out by the French, and Gustavus IV of Sweden, whose troubles were with his own people. Now, in its age, Harnpton Court is one of the greatest show- flaces m England, and if its ancient glory has departed the brick-red has a mellowness and the old gardens a sense of peaceful fulfilment which the builders never found there. NOTABLE SIGHTS At THE PALACE There are three principal courts. On the east, or garden, side is the Fountain Court, built by Wren. In the centre is the Clock Court, conspicuous astronomical clock, made originally in 1540, but restored by Thwaites in 1879, and still going, with Wolsey's arms and motto, Dominus Mic/ii Adtutor (The Lord is my Helper) beneath. Westward is the Green or Base Court, the largest of all. From this the Great Gate leads out over the Tudor Bridge crossing WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKSummer, 1946. T H E R I F L E M A N11 the moat, re-discovcrcd in 1909. The oriel windows of the gatehouse were built by Woisey ; the bizarre row of " kynge's beestes " outside are modern. The barracks beyond were built as stables by Charles II. The great Picture Gallery, one of the finest collections in the kingdom^ is housed mainly in Wren's buildings round the Fountain Court (once the State-rooms are entered there is no turning back, a rule necessary to avoid chaos at times of pressure). The most cele brated pictures are Mantegna's " Triumph of Julius Caesar " (series of nine), now in the series of contemporary paintings of the Field i of the Cloth of Gold ; " Windsor Beauties " (Sir Peter Lely) ; " Canon Van der Paele," by Van Eyck, and specimens of the work of many old masters. The carvings by Grinling Gibbons and the ceilings and ] fireplaces in many of the rooms deserve special attention. i Among the more famous apartments may be mentioned the Haunted Gallery, the most celebrated haunted room in the country, for it is alleged to possess at least four ghosts. KINGST ON-ON-THAMES The historical associations of Kingston-uponTThames are many, and are of great interest. They have often been described by com petent writers, and to give even in outline a sketch of the history of the borough would require more space than can be accorded in this publication. Suffice it to say that there are to be seen in the Kingston Museum relics of the Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods : there is the famous Coronation Stone, upon whieh, despite the critics, there is strong reason to believe that at least seven of the Sa.xon Kings were i crowned ; there is the grand old parish church of All Saints, with distinct evidence of Norman architecture ; and there are houses still existing in \\hich, in the troublous times of Charles the First, the soldiers of Essex ahd Fairfiix were alternately quartered. Kingston has long been widely known for its market, which is held under Royal Charters giving the borough the exclusive right to establish a market within an area of seven miles. Attempts by neighbouring towns to infringe this right have m recent years been successfully resisted by the Corporation. The principal market is held on Saturdays, when the market-place presents a busy and picturesque appearance, stalls laden with produce of all kinds, with ' flowers, clothing, and a multitude of other goods, doing a thriving i trade. 'The Corporation have recently re-organised the layout of the i general market by the installation of a new type of tubular steel stalls. j For many years there was a cattle market also held in the market place, but the Corporation in 1925 constructed a new cattle market j on the Fairfield, where auctioneers, farmers and dealers foregather every Monday. Sea Cadet Team Championship Vice-Admiral C. E. Morgan, C.B., D.S.O., Admiral Commanding Reserves and Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel, accompanied by Sir Lionel Fletcher, Chairman of the S.M.R.C., visited the Town Hall, Dover, oiY Thursday evening, 9th May, and during the interval of a most enjoyable concert presented to the Dover Sea Cadets the Lord Derby rose bowl, given by the S.M.R.C., and open'for competition to Sea Cadet rifle teams throughout England, and other awards. On his arrival. Admiral Morgan inspected a guard of honour of the Sea Cadets. ^ , . Sir Lionel Fletcher, congratulating the Cadets on their successes, said that rifle shooting had a lot to do with the forming of the boys characters, because it taught them much they would not otherwise acquire. , , . , . Admiral Morgan said that he was very proud to have been asked to take the First Lord's place that evening, because there was no doubt that when a unit won such trophies it indicated a happy and efficient unit. He wished also to congratulate them on the way they had carried on during the years of the war. The whole world knew what Dover went through, but the Dover Sea Cadets, despite the tremendous hammering they had had, stuck to it and he believed he was right in saying they had never once missed a parade. That was not only a record in itself, but it showed a wonderful spirit, and boys with that spirit could go out into the world knowing that they had all the necessary equipment to act as ambassadors. Prizes were presented to the following Lord Derby Rose Bowl, P.O. R. Partridge, L.S. J. Sutherland, A.B. G. Abrahams and A.B. 'p. Elvy. Certificates for Kent Zone Football Championship, Cadets S. Dyer (captain), T. Harris, W. Hammond, F. Benn, A. Faulkner, G. Abraham, J. Brooks, P. Pott, T. Durbridge, R. Yeoman and E. Durrant. Kent Zone Boxing Championship and Southern Area Championship, S. Cole. , . , , The band of the Depot, Royal Marines played during the evening, and those who took part in the concert were A. Clayton (songs), H. Hopper (concertina), Madame Perry (songs), G. Maidstone ukelele), and Mr. N. Taylor and Mrs. M. Day (pianists). HANDICAPPING A COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM WHICH SHOULD APPEAL TO ORGANISERS OF TEAM AND INDI VIDUAL COMPETITIONS ON A HANDICAP BASIS From time to time the subject has been discussed in this Journal of the possible methods of deciding individual or team competitions on a handicap basis and opinions have been expressed on the question of what a handicap system should embody. It is generally agreed that the basis of any method of handicapping should provide that individuals or teams of varying degrees of proficiency should be able to com pete ggainst each other with equal opportunity of winning ; that no individual or team receive such handicap as to pre clude the possibility of being beaten by any one of the opponents, and that the highest possible gun score of a high average Individual or team be beatable on handicap by a low average individual or team putting up a com parably better performance. An Individual Handicap Chart, designed to meet these requirements, was devised and compiled by Mr. F. MacRae of the National City Bank Rifle Club, with proved success in the club, which comprised some 15 members with averages ranging from 99 to 90 or lower. Subsequently it was tried out by other and larger clubs and favourably reported on. Later a " 300 " Chart was compiled for use by Alexandra Palace Rifle Club for competitions through-the-ranges, and this, too, is reported to have proved successful. A team handicap chart on the same principle was compiled by Mr. MacRae for the City of London Rifle League and used in deciding the final match between the top teams in each of the 14 or so divisions in the League, the result meeting with general approval. More recently the Middleseix County League adopted the system, with agreed success, in the final match between the winners of each division in the League, and the Surrey County Association organised a knock-out team com petition, obtaining entries from 64 teams, with averages ranging from 430 upwards. The results in this competition were followed closely by Mr. G. Sanders of the S.M.R-C., and he has concluded that the MacRae Handicap Chart does in fact meet the requirements mentioned earlier in this article, with the possible criticism that teams in the lower averages received, perhaps, some slight advantage, which may be regarded as a good fault. Now, by courtesy of National City Bank Rifle Qub, and with the co-operation of Mr. F. MacRae, the S.M.R-C- has in course of publication a booklet incorporating tne chart as applied to individual shooting, a " through-tne- ranges " chart, and a " 600 " chart for use in competitions for teams of six. The last mentioned is adaptable tor teams of any number. The Society feels sure that tne booklet meets a definite need in handicap shooting an should prove most helpful to club secretaries, league secre taries and County Associations desirous of organising handicap competitions. The price will be 2/- post free, and copies will be available shortly. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKNext >