GENERAL. 89 



During the war in France, with the constant influx of new 

 officers and men as reinforcements in replacement of casualties, 

 it was soon found that the new material required tuition in 

 respect to the care and management of horses. In addition to 

 instruction which was imparted by classes within their 

 Formations as best possible — a difficult and not altogether a 

 convenient or satisfactory proceeding — classes of instruction 

 were held at the large Veterinary Hospitals on Lines of 

 Communication, where examples of wastage existed in 

 abundance, and lessons of mismanagement could be fitly 

 illustrated. The Classes were only of ten days' duration each, 

 and the A. B.C. of Animal Management only was attempted, 

 as it was deemed expedient to train as many Officers and 

 Non-commissioned Officers as possible in the shortest possible 

 time. Up to May 1918, 850 young Officers and 4500 Non- 

 commissioned Officers were trained. The Classes were 

 limited to young Officers and Non-commissioned Officers, the 

 older and more experienced being debarred, General Head- 

 quarters arranged for the extension of the Officers' and Non- 

 commissioned Officers Messes to meet the situation, and the 

 break from the conditions at the Front was as much appreciated 

 as the utility of the Classes. 



The majority of the pupils clamoured for an extended course, 

 as they said they could not grasp everything in ten days, and 

 that just when they got interested in the subject they were 

 required to return to their units. A proposal was then put 

 forward for a three weeks course and fixed " Schools of Animal 

 Management " with whole-time Instructional Staffs, but the 

 man-power situation would not admit of it, and the original 

 system had to continue until the termination of the campaign. 

 However, it is very interesting to relate that after the Armistice 

 the classes were re-constructed into Classes of Agriculture and 

 Animal Husbandry, under the direction of the General Staff, 

 as part of their big Education Scheme, and they became very 

 popular for officers and men who desired to take up farming. 

 The desire on the part of men for instruction was so keen on 

 the conclusion of hostilities that in another direction — in Meat 

 Inspection — Veterinary Service was asked if it could arrange 

 classes, and for one class there were about five hundred 



