THE CITIZEN . RIFLEMAN.
The Citisen Rifleman. By E. J. D. Newitt. (George Newnes. 2s. net.)—Distinctly one of the best books published in recent years for the guidance of present and future civilian riflemen is The Citisen Rifleman. Mr. Newitt, who is known in civilian rifle club circles as an extremely good miniature-rifle shot, besides being a member of the Sonthflelds Rifle Club, is a member of the Council of the Society of Miniature Rifle Clubs. As he himself says, his book is published "in the hope that it may be of some assistance to those interested in the formation and subsequent management of rifle clubs using low-power rifles at short ranges." As an aid to forming rifle clubs his book should be very useful. It is, more- over, very interesting to all those in any way connected with rifle-shooting. Mr. Newitt's chapters on preliminary steps and management show a great knowledge of his subject, and also of human nature. We think, however, that he should have suggested how some of the elaborations—suited no doubt for clubs in towns or thickly populated districts—such as entertain- ment committees, smoking concerts, and the like, could be omitted when the club to be formed is merely a village club in some thinly populated country district. In such cases too much elaboration might be apt to make people exaggerate the task before them in the formation of a rifle club. Mr. Newitt's chapters on ranges are interesting, but he seems to be of the opinion that the best and cheapest form of outdoor range is the one in which the marking is done by telescope. This opinion we venture to dispute, and would like to point out to Mr. Newitt's notice an article in the County Gentleman of Jane 24th, 1905, in which suggestions are made for the formation of a village rifle club and a description is given of an extremely cheap and efficient form of range which includes accommodation for markers. Mr. Newitt seems to object to markers as expen- sive, but in our opinion it is just as expensive to arrange for the marking to be done by a man with a telescope from the firing- point. When the marking is done at the other end, it is bound to be more accurate, especially in the case of line-breaking shots. Again, the club has presumably to supply one or more tele- scopes at the firing-point when marking by Mr. Newitt's system. The chapters devoted to the description of various forms of miniature-rifle and aiming devices are extremely interesting and written with discrimination and fairness. In addition, we may congratulate both author and publisher on the attractive appear- ance and good get-up of the book, a welcome change from that of the usual technical work.
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