654 
AUSTRIAN FIELD ARTILLERY SERVICE PRACTICE. 
extreme of the range, as giving all the conditions of safety. Let the 
ordnance map be examined by the light of some such conditions as 
these. In each district it would soon be found where such free spaces 
may possibly exist, and a visit to the spot would determine the rest. 
Salisbury Plain in the south, and the slopes of the Cheviots, or 
some of the hills near the Border, in the north, suggest themselves. 
Ireland should have no lack of sites, and in view of the small sums that 
are, and should be, payable as compensation, we may yet hear it said 
of the needy Irish cotter, as it used to be of the insurance-loving 
German peasant, “ that a fire was a benefit and a hailstorm a blessing, 
but a visit of the troops at manoeuvres a real godsend.” 
It is by no means necessary that the precise same ground should be 
resorted to in recurrent years; on the contrary, in many particulars, 
advantage would be found in changing the ground in successive years; 
many proprietors, too, would like this better. 
The writer has witnessed service practice by the Austrian artillery, 
and he was impressed by the degree to which the firing was carried on 
“ as on service '' in respect of rapidity, and by the regularity and 
method of the whole of the proceedings. Particularly advantageous 
appeared to him the division of labour in the following particulars :— 
Command, and superintendence of fire, as to elevation, fuze, &c. 
Observation of effect of shot: The fire of the whole battery is directed 
by one officer who, in a loud voice, orders the elevation, &c., for each 
round or series, correcting himself by the ascertained result from all 
the guns. The regulations on this head are given in translations 
issued with R.A. Institution Proceedings, No. 3, Vol. VIII. 
The Provisional Instructions of 1872. 
The objects of the service practice were thus defined :— 
The annual course was not comprised in it, but it was to come as a 
wind-up to that course. 
The responsible officers, N.-C. officers, and “numbers '' were, through 
its means, to study:— 
The exercise of choice as to object, or part of object, to fire at. 
The choice of projectile, and effect of latter as influenced by 
ground. 
The observation of result of fire (impact of shot and burst of 
fuze), and of the deceptive influence which the fall of the 
ground has on the judgment. 
The errors made in estimating ranges, and the corrections 
■ proper thereto. 
Choice of positions; their advantages and disadvantages, both 
as regards one's own and the enemy's position; and further: 
The relative amount of security troops may enjoy through their 
formation, through the way they occupy the ground, and 
from different sorts of cover. 
