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CHESTER FRONTIERSMEN. 4

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CHESTER FRONTIERSMEN. 4 NEW TIOOP FORMED. MEETING OF THE LEGION. On Saturday afternoon a meeting was held a.t the Grosvenor Hotel of the Legion of Frontiersmen, for the purpose of forming a Chester troop in the North Wales command. The is a bard of experts, who have gained an experience of life away from the ordinary forms of civilisation, and who are ready to plaoo tkat experience at the d spoAai of the country in case of war. Saturday's ga'iiornig was a notable one, being attended by several prominent members of t'he Legion. Viscount Monunorrcs presided, and was sup- ported by Mr. Ro Focock (founder of the Logion), Lieut.-Coloixi D. P. Drisooll, D.S.O. (the famous leader of Driscoil's Scouts in South Africa), Mr. P. H. Melhuish (oom- mandant of tho North Wales Command of the Legion), Major MacLean, Captain Allen Field (Chester), the Rev. Douglas 11. Pdly (Vicar Df Buckley). Air. Collard, etc. The majority of those present wore the picturesque but ser- viceable uniform of the Legion, and tho.r Mitiart appeaxanoe attracted ocnsidhrable atten- tion in the streete. THE MEN WHO ARE W ANTED. The Chairman sa id the Legion was one of the most patriotic movements started in re- cent day.5. It was an attempt to make use of thofcc men who had boen on the frontier, who had been in the wild*, who had fought tho sea, and who had travelled lone-handed in the un- known places of the earth, and made them- Behee of general utility, and to enable them to tl),rn their knowlcd>ge to aeoount in the eer- vdoo of the country-. This country was per- petually engaged in those ploaeaut and cheery litile campaigns, which meant so much to lis, and of which we hoard so llittle, and in those campaigns, w'h.t was very often most needled was a rexlly intcllig-en,1 IntRlligen: Depart- ment. Another thing which was very often much nnx-ded was art efficient sorvioe of sootite. A third thing was, to have men who were able to shift for themselves, and who knew how to look after themselves gc.nera.liy in any emer- gency. Those were just the kind of thdngB one learned when one had been either rounding up cattle in tne west of tho United States, or farming on the veld' in South Africa, or going flat-footed, day after day, across tropical Ah ica. Under those conditions they got an experience which they could gt-t in no other way, and those men were the kind who were vianwd in the Legion. There were an enor- JnQUt; number of people who would be very glad to join the Legion, on account of thoir very beautiful uniform, but very few of thoec Were men who were really wanted. The men who were really wanted were those who had done something, been something, and been somewhere, arid fought thol,- own battlo single- handed; with nothing but God and thcrnt-clvce to trust to. They also wanted the men who had boon absolutely wasted up to the present beoaueo their talents had never been turned to account in this or any ot.he country. The nearest that had boon attained to that was in the United States, when we 6aw in the Civil ^Var the enormous advantage of having a nation or a whole population that was capable of shift- ing for itself, and the same thing had been 8sen in th) American oontvngent during the Boxer campaign The American contingent '•hiewe were generally the last to turn out in the moriin.g They shed their overcoats about twelve o'clock. bur, they reached the camping ground ahead of everybody oloe, and they stolo the blankets of evoiy other contingent. (Laughter) They were b aton into Pekin °*dy by British. Those men were well Qualified to belong to the Logion, and in this 14Lrt of England rrore than any other part there were suitable men for the Legion. To rt with they had through Lancashire, pteshiire and North Wales, that enormous body of men to whom the smell of salt water, ?v,I)d-hounded a#; Kipling" had it, waiS abso- utoJy as the breath of life. Thoy had too the ^en ^ho had spent thoir lives on tho frontiers, 1,10 men v»ho had b;oa trained from th&:r ea.rlicst, from twelve or fourteen up- 'Va-rds, to faoe emergencies, and win their diffi- culties Then they had in these parte an enor- mous number of men who had been in the Colonic*. This partioula.r part of England waa more «i«so:;iatod with the savago colonies than toy other part of England. The British popu- lation of West Africa was almcst recruited from here. Among the men who had been Out trading, the men who had been in the ser- vices, the prospectors, the surveyors, and the ttiners, there was undoubtedly an enormous **>dy of men who might, profitably join tho J^gion, and who might form a troop in Chester, which would be second to none in ~ngland and in the Legion of Frontiersmen. 1;1 conclusion. Lord Mountmorres announced ^•pologies from several gentlemen. General "looatta had authorised him to say that the object of that mooting had his very hearty sup- Port. He would hav-3 liked to be present, but doctor had forbidden him on aocount. of the weather. General Adair had also ex- Pr'^BBod his sympathy with the movement. Mr. Robert Yerburgh wrote: "To my sincere re- gret, I am unable to accept the invitation, as I have an engagement at Bolton on behalf of the Navy League, of which I am president. I need hardly say I am doe-ply mtoree'ted in the future of your force, and I am glad to give It any support in my power." Bir Watkin "Jim, thts Bishop of Chester, Mr. Mond, M.P., Mr. W. H Lever, M.P and Major Wood °d also sent apologies for absence. THE LEGION'S PROGRAMME. Mr. Roger Pooock gave wme interesting details 86 to the work of the Legion and its °rgambation. He described it as a seJf-sup- P^rtod, self-governing civilian association. Eighteen months ago the Logion did not exist, 1t to-day thev were abL3 to offer to the Ð.ta.l Government, one thousand men frcm and one thousand men from the Johan- ^«Bburg oommand. (Applause.) Their growth had been so great that they had had to re- Orga_nioo once every six months, and the Coun- au felt that they Lad to raise the standard of Qualification for membership. Without saying °*o word against the auxiliary forces, for ^hom he had tho greatest admiration, he did thunk the peace training cf the auxiliary V^rces gave thom that intimate touch with ^faculties which was indispensable to service ik ^°8'lon' They were looking only for "O war-trained eoldi&r, and for the regular ~P'<iier who had effected his training, some undJr difficulties greater than these of service Ot the men they had in the ■^gion, those who seamed to bo doing best, I- 1 say, first civil and m.ming engineers of frontier, and second, possibly tho cow- In tho same rank camto the back-bono o f Army, the old non-commissioned officers, ° could teach them moro of self-respect and ^•pline *han sny othor men alive. (Ap- Waust.) Thay were attaching increasing value Prospcctore because they were trained dyna- tQrs. Ewrywhere they were looking for Practical men. As to horses, they found they ?^jd do better work with the common bus UJid cab horse than some of thoir rivals 7^° boen ablo to do with hunters. Tho cab and tihe bus horn), not, being used as and being used to irregular feeding, were ^r able to stand the strebs of heavy <>ndur- work. Thiey had aifto found out that fA lr ofhoei s did not w;int, an officers' mc^?. (APPL,) They preferred to share alike tho men. (Applause.) That nveant the ~rper).sing with an enormous amoun; of trans- -A-8 regarded thes:r t.rain.ing, they at- great importanoe to cookery, and they d as niucih attention to the hygiene of and tho pr<solvation of the health of .111011 AE thiey did to tho art of taking OOVCT. a°t, Legion laid mo.e 6t ret« on taking from fevers than on taking cover from DOn, 8- They would soon be brought into the with the Territorial Forces, with whom wKVj, (X)~c>PFTLARE in two or three things <'id not scam to have been dono before. of t MHLIT.\BY REGONNAISANCE teeuth kingdom had boen made in the four- o&ntUr aJad reviscxi in the seventeenth 10 Wiyi, 33 far 35 nad been able of XLPri)?tely,' it was considered a little .) Ho suggested that toriol mi§"ht able to assist the Terri- ^lie^r own°? m ma^ng a military gazetosr of 86 ffiiJs'ric'S| oomp ling such information farm, tonfl 01 hay thoro were cm each draught horsee. how many nitreea m villas -ho wwei- ficial area of the village church, so that the doctois m 'gbit know how many beds it would hold, the watering places, how many anvils there wero 'n eaon village, whciro the wheel- wright's shop was, whcic the roads led to and what were tho facilities of the ra.ilway stations to load a.nd unload troops. These things were considered by our ancestors to bo worth know- ing, and it was generally believed that the better and more capable armies of Europe were generally iully informed upon these subjects. It was quite possible that our system in Great Britain wis not yet perfect. If it was not perfect, he hoped tho Legion might be allowed the privilege of helping to make it perfcct m tho way he had outlined. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Pooock also outlin/ed an interest- ing scheme whereby tho members of the Legion might practice the work of lay-Tig trains for blowing up railway bridges, and destroy- ing docks and railway junctions, the Terri- torial forces oo operating with them in this training by acting as the defending forces at these places. Ho pointed out that a foreign invading lorco would attack first of ali our im- portant bridges and railway junctions, and attempt to burn our mobilisatkxn stores and blow in the dock gates in our ports, and it was important that the Army should practice the protection of these important subjects. Mr. Collard moved t'hat the meeting heartily approve of the formation of a Chester troop of the North Wales command. Major McLoan seoonded. Captai n Allen Field, who was one of the provisional committee which formed the Lagion, said this was a centre where there wopo residing many men who had been ehie-fly on the West Coast of Africa He know several who would be excellent recruits to tho Legion. The Rov Douglas Pelly supported the pro- position, t.Tid said he was ore of tho earlier membeirs of the Legion, and ho hoped he would be ablo to corni3 into closer touch with its meii),bers than had boon possible hitherto. I The motion was carried unanimously. On tho proposition of Colonel Drisooll i vote of thanks was accorded the chairman. Captain Field seoonded, and the proposition was carried with the singing of "For he's a jolly good fellow." In tdi3 evening tho mtembers and friends of the Legion toat down at dinner at the Gros vcaor Hotel Lord Mountmorres presiding, and a pleasant evening was spent.—During the evening the Chairman read a telegram from an absent Frontiersman. It ww; addressed: — "Melhuish, Legion of Frontiersmen, probably known to the jx>lioe, dining somewhere in Chester." 'lhe- telegram, which caused; some amusement, was delivered correctly, and with- out delay The following toasts, besides the Royal toaf*t, were honoured:—"Mr. Roger Pooock and Colonel Driscoll," proposed by thjc) Ohiairman; "The Chairmaji," propoa&d by Commandant. Mrihuish; The Legion of Frontieismeo," proposed by the Chairman; "The Chester Troop," which was responded to by Captain Elkine, who was referred to as tho first member of the troop. Major Mc- Lean's health was also drunk. A DISTINGUISHED LEGION. As t lie wing the- distinguished career" which many of the members have bad, the following notes are interesting:- Viscount Mountmorros, who presided at the meeting of tho Legion, is a noted oarsman, and rowing people in Chester will remember last yean- it was expected that he would have composed, for the sculling championship of thr Dee. Unfortunately, Cestrians had not the pleasure of seeing him. He has travelled widely, having been in America, Egypt, Morocco, Spain, Wrest Africa, and the Congo Froo State, etc. Colonel D P. Drisooll is, of course, one of tho best, known cavalry officers ir. the Army. During -Jbo South African War he was twioo mentioned in dispatches, and among his medals he has tho Queen's medal with four clarps, and the King's medal with two clasps, as well no the distinction of th, D.S.O. The Rev. Douglas Pelly was ordained in MashonalajiJ. He was formerly S.P.G. mis- sionary at MakoTuas, Mashonaland, Principal of the IXooesan Memorial College, Mashona- land, a cu-rate of Sal combe, priest in chargo of the Natal location, Capetown 1901 2.

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