Q.F. GUNS FOE FIELD ARTILLERY. 
445 
upon and it is desired to promote him, he should be compelled to make 
use of a competent trained observer. 
2. The greatest pains are taken in every battery to train layers and 
constant practice in this duty goes on throughout the year, but skilled 
layers are passing to the reserve at 7 years and no effort is made to 
retain them in the ranks. Such men if called up would be of little 
use as layers—they would be completely out of practice and guns or 
sights or probably both would have changed. Young layers are 
easily flurried and lose their heads ; the older men are invaluable. 
An extra 6d. a day to really good layers who extend their service to 
twelve years with the colours would be money well spent. 
3. Lastly—Improvements of our present armament not involving 
structural alterations should be carried out and the rate of fire in¬ 
creased. Tangent sights should be constructed which can be left in 
the guns during firing; and the tube and lanyard should be replaced 
by a more modern arrangement. 
It would also be well to consider whether the time has not come to 
modify, for the sake of rapidity, our system of “ battery fire/ 5 and to 
recognise “ section fire 55 where each gun is fired, not independently, 
but by order of the section commander, either at a stated interval or 
when ready. Objection is made to the proposal that control of fire 
would pass out of the hands of the major, that the service of the guns 
would be hurried, and the result not commensurate with the expendi¬ 
ture of ammunition. These objections do not appear to be well 
founded—the major (if the shooting appeared wild or hurried) could 
always return to “ subdivision fire 55 or “ battery fire 55 were it thought 
desirable to retain so many names ; or he could order “ section fire 55 
at thirty or even sixty seconds, if he wished the fire to be deliberate. 
At present any delay in the service of one gun is carried through the 
whole battery,-for though it is permissible to order the next in rota¬ 
tion to fire, a delay usually occurs before this is done. That this 
statement is correct can easily be proved at practice where it can be 
observed that individual guns are frequently ready to fire again 40" 
or less after being discharged, yet a rate for the battery of six rounds 
per minute, representing an interval of 60" between the several dis¬ 
charges of each gun, is seldom attained. 
Were we engaged in war with a European enemy we should at 
critical stages of an action certainly attempt a quicker rate of fire 
than the “ battery fire at 10" 55 which is now our limit. It is better to 
recognise this necessity and to prepare for it in peace, with or without 
the so-called quick firers, than to wait until compelled to improvise 
a different system of fire discipline on the field of battle. 
Ma joe-General J. B. Richardson : It appears to me that there 
is no question whatever of the enormous advantages of a quick firing 
gun in the field provided it is so formed that it is also a quick hitter. 
No man who has once handled quick firing guns can go back com¬ 
fortably to the old fashioned thing. I happen to come fresh from 
work with quick firing garrison guns. Gunners who have once han¬ 
dled them do not like going back to slow hitting work. 
40 
