4 
One of our officers was fortunate enough to see a parade of the “ A ” Battery 
with their "guns on sleighs. They turned out very smartly in marching order 
under the command of Major Drury, the red busby bags and mufflers giving a 
dash of colour to the otherwise sombre appearance produced by the black fur caps 
and dark cloaks against the snowy background. Four guns were paraded, each 
drawn by four horses, the gunners being mounted on the limber and axle-tree 
boxes. There were no wagons. The guns are 9-prs. B.M.L., and were mounted 
on converted patterns of the old Woolwich sleigh, an invention of Major Drury’s 
own, and a great improvement. One sleigh is used for each gun and carriage 
and one for each limber, the two being connected by the pintail and trail-eye and 
the whole forming a perfect specimen of what is known in this country as a “ bob 
sleigh.” To load the sleighs the gun and limber wheels are removed and their 
axle-tree arms rested in trunnions, the shafts remain in their proper place. To 
come into action they unlimber just as with wheels. The disadvantages of the 
old pattern Woolwich sleigh were that the gun had to be dismounted to be placed 
on it, the carriage and limber were left behind, and to come into action the horses 
had to be unhooked, and when in draught the wheelers were racked going over 
uneven ground by the unnatural angle of the draught (about 35°), and by being 
too close to the sleigh. With Major Drury’s system, if there were a spare sleigh 
or two following the battery with the wheels loaded on them, the whole battery 
could be converted from “runners” to “wheels ” in a few minutes. On this 
occasion the “ A ” Battery went for its drill on the Biver St. Lawrence, which at 
that point is a couple of miles broad, and was frozen 2 feet thick with ice over 
which was about 6 inches of snow. The battery manoeuvred at a walk, trot and 
gallop, unlimbered and fired up the river with live shell, both common and 
shrapnel properly fuzed, and this with the thermometer at 5° above zero and a 
wind like a razor, thereby showing that the Canadian artilleryman is made of 
pretty good stuff. 
On 3rd February, Captain Boileau gave a lecture at Montreal, by request of 
Lieut.-Colonel Cole of the Montreal Garrison Artillery. The subject was “ The 
functions of Modern Garrison Artillery and its training.” The lecture was 
delivered in the Craig-street Drill Shed, in the Montreal Garrison Artillery 
Armoury, which was tastefully decorated. Major-General Herbert, C.B., Grena¬ 
dier Guards, Commanding the Militia in Canada, was in the chair, a strong- 
contingent was there from each of the Montreal Militia Begiments, as well as the 
Garrison Artillery and the Field Battery, and the Press was represented. A 
verbatim, report of the lecture was published in the Canadian Military Gazette , 
with a portrait of the lecturer ! 
On 14th February, Lieut.-Colonel Arthur Hill, C.B.E., was married to Miss 
Clarkson in St. Luke’s Cathedral, Halifax, and on the previous night he was 
entertained at dinner in the B.A. and B.E. Mess. The wedding was a uniform 
one. The three bridesmaids were handed out by Major Brady, B.A. (bestman), 
Lieut. Enthoven, B.E., and Lieut. Elliot, B.A., the remainder of the officers— 
B.A. on one side of the aisle and B.E. on the other—drew their swords, on the 
termination of the ceremony, and formed an “ arch of steel ” for the procession 
to pass under. The bridegroom was presented with a silver punch bowl as the 
joint gift of the officers of both the Begiment and the Corps. The whole function 
was quite a B.A. and B.E. one, and tended to show the good feeling that exists 
between the two services at this station, and the popularity of Colonel Hill with 
both. 
It A WAIL PINDI. 
“ B ” Battery, B.H.A., on Wednesday, 1st February, celebrated the 100th Anni¬ 
versary of the formation of the Battery. 
