COMPETITIVE PRACTICE IN THE GARRISON ARTILLERY. 419 
in the G.A.D., before a man can become a paid gun-layer he must 
have :— 
1st.—A very good character; 
2nd.—At least four years 5 service ; 
3rd.—Passed the examination laid down in Section XLYI. 
R.A.S.O. for 1st class gunners. 
Now to my mind a really first-rate gun-layer is born, not made. 
Just as no amount of practice will make a man who has no natural 
aptitude a first-rate game shot, racquet or billiard player, so no amount 
of aiming drill will make a man rise above a certain standard as a gun¬ 
layer. Hence, I would recommend that any steady man who has 
passed his drills and shews undoubted aptitude for the work and can 
pass the G.A.D. laying tests should be at once appointed a paid layer 
without insisting on the other qualifications enumerated above. A 
similar system to this has, I believe, been successfully adopted in several 
foreign navies. 
The objection that in the “ Competitive 55 under the present system 
subaltern officers do not always have their own particular sections 
under their command and that gun-layers do not work in all instances 
with their own detachments is more a sentimental than a real one. 
Although excellent in theory, it is impossible in practice. The 
allotment of men to guns in any given fortress must depend on the 
numbers required for the ammunition detail, the B.C. 5 s staff, &c. 
and the number of guns to be manned, and to arrange that each 
subaltern should only have command of his own section is practically 
impossible in peace time and would be even more so on “ mobilization/ 5 
when militia and volunteers are brought into play. In addition to 
this, as only two out of the three subalterns of a company of Garrison 
Artillery are in command of sections, if this idea was carried out in its 
entirety, the third subaltern would not be allotted to a group at all. 
The present record target is doubtless capable of great improvement 
and, certainly, a company which breaks up the target at the begin¬ 
ning of its competive practice is decidedly worse off than one which 
breaks it up towards the end, but whether for this reason only it would 
be advisable to revert to the Hong Kong target is a very moot-point. 
Undoubtedly, the men take a far greater interest in the practice when 
they see the actual results of their fire than when they merely hear (as 
is the case in practice at the Hong Kong target) that they have been 
credited with so many imaginary hits. 
The difficulty of ranging on a shattered record target exists during 
the whole of the practice at a Hong Kong target, besides which the 
former is a much nearer approximation to the target (an enemy 5 s ship) 
which would have to be aimed at on actual service. 
As regards the suggested modifications in the system of carrying out 
competitive practice, the first suggestion that a certain number of rounds 
be placed at the disposal of the company C.O. to be expended in any way 
he wishes for elementary practice is unnecessary, as it is what is done 
