440 
Q.F. GUNS FOE FIELD AETILLEEY. 
and training suited to such an armament could only be referred 
to incidentally—yet it is imposssible to have thought at all about 
the subject, without feeling that the mere introduction of a gun of 
improved pattern is but a small part of the great change which 
will be necessary, if the full value is to be got out of such a gun. 
Moreover the matter is pressing, as, even if a Q.F. armament were 
decided upon at once, it would take three or more years to construct 
and issue, while the training to its use of the personnel, would not be 
done in a day. It would thereupon seem very desirable to think the 
matter out at once. One great work has undoubtedly been done in this 
matter, in France, and if we with our old-fashioned guns, were called 
upon to stand up to a similar number of the modern Q.F. guns, there 
might be a crushing disaster. 
It is to be hoped then that it will very shortly be decided that a 
Q. F. armament is to be adopted. 
I would submit, should this be happily settled, the three following 
points require settling :— 
(a.) What should be the relative proportions of batteries and 
ammunition columns, and what should be the organi¬ 
zation of each of them. 
fb.J What exact pattern of gun, carriage, &c., should be 
adopted, and 
(c.) What changes in tactics, both on the part of our enemy 
and ourselves, must be looked for. This would be a 
guide as to the requirements. 
It seems to me that all these things should be taken on at the same 
time and as having a relation to one another. 
Would it come within the scope of the discussion on these essays 
to suggest that the above points be brought forward with a view of 
eliciting opinions as to whether all these points could not be discussed 
separately and simultaneously by three of the strongest possible Com- 
mitties, the results being welded together so to speak by a Grand Com¬ 
mittee composed of the Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the inferior 
Committees and presided over by some one of the highest rank. I sug¬ 
gest this merely as a method by which all the aspects of the question 
would be sure of receiving the attention that they merit. 
For example. Suppose the Committee for (a) (organization and 
relative proportions) to consist chiefly of officers who are, or have 
been employed at head-quarters, under say I.G.O. as President. 
Suppose Committee for (bj (pattern of gun, &c.,) to consist of the 
existing Ordnance Committee, assisted by the strongest possible Field 
Committee, comprising the Aldershot and Okehampton authorities— 
all trials to be carried out at Aldershot and Okehampton and as much 
under service conditions as possible. 
Suppose Committee for (cj (Tactics, &c.,) not to be confined to 
R. A., but to include senior officers of other arms who have commanded 
troops in the field say under the presidency of Lord Roberts. 
And suppose that when each of them has finished its work the three 
