REMARKS OK 
423 
MAKING OR BREAKING. 
BY 
CAPTAIN W. H. CUMMINGS, R.A. 
Lieut.-Colonel 0 5 Callaghan ? s article in the March number of the 
R.A.I. ff Proceedings ” will have been read with interest by all, and 
agreed with, in the main, by those who wish to see the young Garrison 
Gunner, not only worthy of the extra pay he receives for being scien¬ 
tific, but also second to none in zeal and smartness and in proficiency 
at all games and sports. 
No doubt the greatest responsibility rests with all senior officers, 
with whom young officers, especially on first joining are brought into 
contact, by precept, example and encouragement, to make or break ” 
them. No class is more amenable to good or bad influence, more easily 
led into good habits or the reverse. It has frequently occurred that 
officers of the Garrison Artillery have been compared (generally to their 
detriment) to their brother officers of Horse and Field Artillery; all 
comparisons are odious, and none more so than in this case; it is a 
practice very much to be deprecated, especially as there is really no 
comparison at all between any of the branches, each having in due pro¬ 
portion, as keen, as smart, and as sporting a lot of young officers as the 
other, and this fact cannot be too emphatically stated. 
The question arises: How to mould the young Garrison Gunner into 
a good officer ? 
There are two aspects, which go together, but which must be viewed 
separately, in the making of a good officer; one, when in uniform or 
at his duty; the other, in plain clothes, or at his play. 
To make them good soldiers it is unanimously acknowledged that 
they must be given responsibilities, the charge and command of men, 
the spirit of emulation and competition, in fact they should have com¬ 
mand of a section and vie with their brother section commanders in 
everything concerning their own particular charge : there is nothing 
like friendly rivalry amongst brother subalterns to make them keen 
and zealous; each will try, not only to produce the smartest and best 
drilled squads, the cleanest barrack-room, the greatest number of 
specialists, but also the most cricketers for the company eleven, the 
best shots with the carbine, &c., &c.; all this is granted, but how 
8. YOL. XX. 
