COMMENDED ESSAY, 1897 . 
345 
As things are at present, the energies of officers and men are diverted 
into all sorts of different channels, instead of being concentrated upon 
the one thing for which they exist, namely fighting particular guns in 
the most efficient way possible. It is not an uncommon thing to hear 
it said that a recruit should not do 12*5" gun drill because he has not 
yet done any 64 pr. or 9" gun drill; but surely if the company to which 
he belongs has to man 12*5" guns in time of war, it is of vastly more 
importance that he should learn the 12 , 5" gun drill than any other. 
When he has learnt it and become efficient at it he will no doubt be all 
the better for learning how to work other guns, but his early instruction 
in the work he would have to do in war will not militate against his 
general efficiency as a gunner ; and if he is sent abroad with a draft, 
before war breaks out, his knowledge of 12 ' 5 " gun drill will be just as 
useful to him as knowledge of 9" or 64 pr. drill. It is a common com¬ 
plaint in the reports of the commandants of schools of instruction that 
there are so many recruits in the companies. This implies that the 
recruits do not know their drill, but it would often be found that they 
had excellent knowledge of the bayonet exercise and other things, 
which no doubt are of use, but which would have very little effect on 
the course of a fight between ships and forts. If their want of know¬ 
ledge were due to the fact that they had been drilling only with those 
guns which they were told off to man in time of war, it would be a 
matter of congratulation to the companies, even though it were still a 
subject of complaint by the commandants. 
Unfortunately now-a-days when a gunner emerges from the recruit 
stage he has little chance of learning his work unless he goes abroad. 
A company is spread out over so many sub-districts and offices that 
what with district gunners, specialists, office clerks, and armament 
fatigues there are hardly any men left for drill, except during the 
annual course, and they then generally drill with the wrong guns. 
The truth is that a considerable change in our methods is wanted, and 
the following system is advocated :— 
The most important works of a fortress, that is those in which some proposed 
or all of the guns should be kept constantly ready, should be manned S torts and 
by the Regular Companies. A company major should have entire training of 
charge of the work or works manned by his own company, and of none com P ames - 
other except such as are in close proximity and belong to the same 
sub-district. Two sub-districts might be under one officer’s charge ; 
but one sub-district should never be shared by two officers. 
Each subaltern officer of a company should be responsible to his 
major for that portion of the works manned by his section of the 
company, and if there are three subalterns in a company there should 
always be three sections. The other works in a fortress which would 
be manned by Militia or Volunteers (except such as form part of the 
company sub-districts) should be under the charge of armament officers ; 
and as a general rule, company officers and men should have nothing 
to do with them. It is possible that a closer connection might be 
established between the Militia and Volunteers (at any rate those whose 
headquarters are on the spot) and the works which they have to man, 
so that the district establishment in those works should become practi¬ 
cally part of the permanent staff of the corps. 
There seems no reason why a Militia or Volunteer adjutant, whose 
headquarters are in a fortress, should not have armament charge of the 
sub-district or sub-districts manned by his corps, but of course if his 
