32 
MILITIA TIELD AETILLEEY. 
Result 
Reasons for 
the number 
of horses 
Employment 
for horses 
during non¬ 
training 
period 
Staff 
Personnel 
Size of each 
unit 
Equipment 
year; this would bring the end of the training of the sixth unit to 
about October 7th. 
With the barracks, equipment and horses, therefore, of one brigade 
division, six brigade divisions, or 108 guns, would be trained. 
It will be noticed that the batteries have more wagons than is usual 
and a full complement of horses. The batteries would not, as a rule, 
use more than four horses per wagon on the days when the wagons 
were taken to drill; the remaining horses would be kept for the recruit 
drivers of those brigade divisions whose training overlap. 
It will be objected that as the recruits of the first unit do not come 
up till February, the horses will have nothing to do for four months, 
most of them in fact for six months. I would, however, reply that 
from November till April these horses might, with great advantage, 
be distributed to various military centres and used for giving the 
ammunition columns an airing (which they do not often get at present) 
and also to enable batteries of R.H.A. and R.A. to turn out in war 
strength without taking the horses away from every other battery in 
the station. 
With regard to personnel, a colonel and adjutant from the R.A. to 
superintend the whole training; a riding-master and quarter-master- 
sergeant to keep an eye on the equipment and barracks ; a sergeant- 
farrier, collar-maker and wheeler, these artificers to superintend the 
work of the militia artificers—the above, together with an office clerk, 
might form the staff. 
1 believe that there are many retired artillery officers of all ages who 
would be delighted to set the ball rolling, and, I believe, that service in 
Field Artillery would appeal to a new class of militia recruit, but if any 
of the present militia brigades can be spared from coast defence, they 
might be converted, the officers to start with being attached for at least 
six months to a regular battery. The permanent staff should also, at 
first, be a large one, all No. 1’s being drawn from the Royal Artillery, 
as well as a certain number of drivers, the latter being men who have 
finished their time in the Army Reserve. 
The unit has been taken as the brigade division, but the scheme 
would adapt itself to a unit of two batteries (or one to start with), and 
could be gradually expanded. Even the latter would give us an in¬ 
crease of 36 field-guns. 
There are many small points to be considered which I will not enter 
into, such for instance, the horses which would have to be in their 
prime and have liberal feeds if they are to get through the very long 
hours they would be expected to work. We give the Honourable 
Artillery Company’s horses from 14 to 16 lbs. of oats a day when they 
are at Aldershot, and I fancy we should soon lose our contractor if we 
did not. 
The equipment for one unit would be kept at the school, that for the 
others would be kept in store at such places as should be selected, the 
harness, etc., in use to be replaced from these stores, which would in 
turn make up their equipment from Woolwich. The present reserve 
of horses would have to be augmented so as to provide for the other 
five units. 
