452 
Q.F. G-TJNS FOE FIELD AETILLEEY. 
to about three inches on fair ground. Then you have traversing gear, 
giving at least 10° on each side of the centre line, to meet the difficulty 
to which Colonel Richardson alluded and you can use a shoulder piece 
in training. The drawback is that if you have to shift to a target 
lying outside the extreme training of the gun, you have to move a 
four-wheeled vehicle instead of a two-wheeled vehicle. I believe 
that if you would be satisfied with the 1,400 feet velocity which 
Major Elmslie recommends, it is possible to make a carriage on 
this principle which will do all that is required without exceeding the 
I imits of the present load behind the team. The fourth plan is to 
put the gun and 40 rounds of ammunition on a single pair of wheels 
and make a long trail used as a pole. I designed a carriage on that 
principle but it looked rather* strange and I am afraid it rather shocked 
the sense of propriety of the Ordnance Committee when they looked 
at it. But I should like to say although I thought the idea was 
original Major Abdy a short time ago brought me a beautiful picture 
painted by the first Captain Congreve about 120 years ago in which 
he showed the whole thing painted in his own hand. So that the idea 
is an old one after all and this is only another instance of how shame¬ 
lessly our predecessors have stolen our best ideas. 
There is one other matter affecting the speed of fire and that is 
fuzing, I venture to think that the present method of fuzing can be 
much improved. 
If you have to set ten fuzes say to the same length, an adjustment 
has to be separately made to each. It seems to me possible to make 
a tool which being itself set will automatically set the fuze. I throw 
out that idea because I am sure it can be done. 
In conclusion I should like to say that, if you do not hear very 
much about the Carriage Department and you hear a great deal about 
the triumphs of other manufacturers at home and abroad, I would ask 
you to believe that, although we have many difficulties to contend 
against, we are not by any means behind the time. 
Lieutenant A. T. Dawson, R.N.:—General Maurice, ladies and 
gentlemen, I thank you very much for permitting me to take part in 
this discussion. I feel a great deal of reluctance in speaking on a 
purely military subject, but perhaps as a manufacturer, you will listen 
to the few remarks I have to make, although, after what Sir George 
Clarke has said, they may fall rather flat. 
I have read the essays with very great interest, as also have several 
members of the firm to which I belong, and we are all very pleased to 
see that there is a general consensus of opinion that the advantages 
of the quick firing gun for the field are very much in advance of the 
disadvantages. I need not say that this has been already recognised 
by many foreign countries, notably Germany and France. Italy also 
has carried out trials, and Spain has done the same. The Russians 
are carrying out trials almost immediately—in fact, they have already 
carried out some. 
I only wish to deal with that portion relating to manufacture, and 
not in any way to trench upon the military side of the question. 
