429 
VOLUNTEER AD JUT ANGIES. 
BY 
LIEUTENANT F. E. FREETH, R.A» 
In a paper published in the March “ Proceedings/' Captain G. Osborn 
states that there is a dearth of officers willing to undertake the duties 
of Volunteer Artillery Adjutants, and that the reason is that there is 
a lack of information on the subject. He then proceeds presumably to 
detail his experiences as a Volunteer Adjutant. Did he stop at this I 
should have nothing to say, and should simply look forward with interest 
to the host of applicants clamouring for the Adjutancy he so vividly 
describes, at the next vacancy. Bat he has made his paper a more 
general one, and I doubt if every Volunteer Adjutant will be found to 
agree with all he says. The subject is an interesting one, and I should 
like to be allowed, as a Volunteer Adjutant myself, to make a few 
remarks which are the result of my own observation. 
I do not wish to say one word to discourage officers, and keen officers 
above all, from taking up these appointments; but if they do so on the 
strength of the expectations held out in the paper above referred to, 
there is much reason to fear that their hopes may be doomed to disap¬ 
pointment. There is another and perhaps a stronger reason why we 
should be careful to arrive at the exact facts of the case and not to 
present them in a too roseate form, and that is, that in order to en¬ 
courage improvement it is first necessary to show that there is both 
room and necessity for it. There are certain conditions of so called 
“ efficiency" laid down for the Volunteer, and I am afraid there is but 
too much inclination to regard these as the goal for which we aim 
instead of being as they are but a bare minimum. I shall, then, offer 
a few remarks on Captain Osborn's paper with a view of pointing out 
the material on which we have to work, with the view of rendering the 
Volunteer Artillery a real auxiliary in home defence which, I suppose, 
should be the aim of every Volunteer Adjutant. 
Now, anyone who will take the trouble to look at the establishments 
of Volunteer Artillery 1 will find that there are a variety of Artillery 
Corps, some Garrison, some Position Artillery, and many with one or 
1 Special Army Orders, 14<th July, 1892 ; Army List, October 1892, pp. 258-63. 
8. VOL. xx. 
