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NOTES 
ON THE 
AUSTRIAN HELD ARTILLERY SERVICE PRACTICE, 
AS INTRODUCED IN 1872, 
COMMUNICATED BY 
COLONEL W. H, GOODENOUGH, K.A. 
Introductory . 
Although issued some years since, tlie subjoined passages from the 
instructions given out when service practice was first begun in Austria 
may prove of interest and value at the present time. 
Matter peculiar to the Austrian service, or affected by the armament 
in use nine years ago, has been omitted in making these extracts. 
One of the principal difficulties we labour under in introducing 
service practice as part of our regular system of instruction in the 
United Kingdom, is that of finding ground proper for the purpose. 
For this reason, the translator regards the instructions for procedure 
in acquiring land for ranges as of much interest, and he has given them 
almost in extenso . 
We are in the habit of thinking that, on the Continent, all such 
matters are managed with a high hand, and that there can be no 
difficulty in the troops acting as they please. It will be seen, however, 
that property is scrupulously, though not exclusively respected. We 
may be led to find that where others succeed through throwing the task 
of finding suitable ground on the branch interested in the service, 
decentralising the negotiations, and minimising the novelty of the pro* 
position in the eyes of the local people, making as little fuss as possible 
about it, in fact; we too, in spite of our vastly different country and 
population, following a similar course, may get what we want. 
For efficiency, service practice should be done annually by every 
battery. This is impracticable with only three or four land ranges 
available in the United Kingdom. But the writer believes that, if we 
set about it methodically, many more places would be found where 
field artillery could fire. He may be exaggerating the requirements, 
but, roughly speaking, he looks on a clear space of four miles down 
the line of fire, with three-quarters to one mile on each side of it at the 
81 
