190 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
It was found that the carriage will ride on an Otago saddle without any 
cradle at all. 
The forge-load at first appeared badly adjusted, the bellows on one side 
weighing down the anvil block and hammer on the other, though the 
weights of each approximate 98J lbs. 
With equal weights the principle to be observed with all loads is that a 
straight line passing through the centres of gravity of the packs on either 
side should be horizontal. 
By adding links to the chains supporting the block and anvil, the forge 
load has been made to ride well. 
Two iron supports fitted by means of screws and nuts, were proposed by 
Col. Wray, C.B., to enable the iron cradle to carry the gun lengthwise 
instead of athwart. 
They were brought out with the battery; the question, however, of 
changing the position of the gun has never been raised, the extreme length 
of the gun (29 inches) being so small that no alteration is required; the 
present method of carrying it is the most convenient for mounting and 
dismounting, and the gun lies near the mule’s back, though safely raised 
above it. 
A mortar-bed designed by Lieut. Curtis was made for each subdivision 
and carried on the double shell load of the first line. 
2 cheeks, teak, 2i" thick, 23" base, 11J" deep from trunnion holes. 
1 rear transom, 5" x 3" teak 
2 front do. 2J" X 2". > weight, 75 lbs. 
2 -f iron bolts with nuts.) 
4 eye bolts, securing capsquares and passing right through the cheeks. 
Two bars of wood two inches square passed through iron staples fitted 
into the cheeks at the base prevent the upsetting of the bed on the dis¬ 
charge of the piece; these are four feet long, and enable the gun and bed 
to be carried by either two or four men. 
This bed will not retain its position when a larger charge than 3 oz. is 
used, but it would seem advisable to construct a light bed for double shell 
firing, or even to supersede the wheel carriage altogether. Lieut. Nolan 
designed a sliding tangent sight for use with the above. 
The boxes containing “ miscellaneous stores ” and the small store boxes, 
carried with the gun being too tightly packed for convenience, small wooden 
boxes with sliding tops were fitted to the wooden cradle carried by the 
wheel mule, leaving the contents of the several boxes as under:—• 
Miscellaneous Store Boxes. 
Armourer-serjeant’s tools, 
Wheeler’s do. 
Collar-maker’s do. 
1 set of entrenching tools on the 
top of saddle completing the 
load. 
Box on Wheel Mule. 
4 sets, shoes and nails, 
1 spare lanyard, 
1 set, bits for borer, 
1 measuring cup, copper, 
1 spare linchpin and washer, 
1 hold-all, containing fuze-extractor, 
spike, turnscrew, &c. 
In addition to the above the following spare stores were carried by the 
subdivisions undermentioned:— 
