37 2 
COMMENDED ESSAY, 1897 . 
by auxiliaries, and if we expect them to do good work, they must be 
allowed sufficient ammunition to fire a fair number of rounds under 
service conditions, and their practice must be carried out from the works 
they will have to defend. 
The Militia are in a much better position to do this than the Volun¬ 
teers, and now that they are brought for their training to mobilisation 
stations, as often as possible, a great improvement may be looked for in 
their efficiency as Coast Artillerymen. The officers are however the 
great difficulty, as owing to the lack of ammunition they acquire but 
little practical instruction in the many details of fighting guns ; for this 
reason Militia officers, more especially those of higher rank, should 
whenever possible be attached to Regulars for the purpose of watching 
or taking part in their practice. 
The suggestions for carrying out “ company practice ” should apply 
also to Militia during their training, and some responsible R.A. officer 
should always be present and ensure service conditions being adhered 
to. This is still more necessary in the case of Volunteers, where the 
tendency is often to sacrifice everything to extreme accuracy, and one 
sometimes sees the G.G.C. and even the B.C. himself checking the 
laying ; when after a good deal of delay the gun is fired and possibly 
hits a standing target, all think they have done well ; but three rounds 
fired in the same time, even though twenty-five to fifty yards over, 
should be a much better object to achieve. 
The question of Volunteer Artillery is receiving a good deal of atten¬ 
tion, but yet not nearly as much as it should, for there is no denying 
that there is great room for improvement, and that with modern guns 
and the present system of coast defence, a far greater efficiency is 
required to make this branch of the service, upon which so much may 
one day depend, thoroughly useful. The men as a whole are excellent, 
and we may take it that a few days’ regular drill in their fighting posi¬ 
tions would ensure the proper service of the guns ; but the officers are 
very often woefully behind the times, not through any lack of keenness 
on their part, but for want of opportunity of bettering themselves, and 
obtaining the knowledge required to make a good G.G.C. or B.C., which 
can only be obtained by taking part in practice from properly manned 
coast defences. 
Whenever possible therefore Volunteers should be brought out for a 
week, and camp in or near the works allotted to them ; they should be 
given a liberal amount of ammunition, and after two or three days 
devoted to drill should practice at a moving target, the details for 
instruments and communications being supplied from the district staff, 
and a good R.A. officer acting as F.C. Rapidity of fire should be 
insisted on at all times, and the layers made to understand that practice 
is not being carried out for their own special edification, and will be 
judged not by individual laying but by the general result obtained. 
The large amount of firing with 64 pr. at standing target which takes 
place annually should be discouraged, as although no doubt good in its 
way it does not represent service conditions, and there is more to be 
learnt by firing one round per gun from a group of 9" R.M.L. at a 
moving target, than fifty rounds of 64 pr. at a standing target. 
Every opportunity should be taken of getting auxiliary Artillery to 
join in “combined practice” as before suggested, and if every three 
years the defences could be manned in accordance with the mobilisation 
tables a great deal could be learnt, and the three branches—Regulars, 
