424 
TRAINING ARTILLERY SCOUTS. 1 
training by having a small camp of instruction, held in the spring and 
lasting about a fortnight, at some part of England or Ireland, where 
plenty of open ground would be available to work over. The men 
would then be ready for further training at the larger manoeuvres later 
in tbe year. 
These camps need not contain more than 24 men, or the trained men 
from six batteries under an officer as instructor, and would be analo¬ 
gous to the small signalling camps that are to be seen in tbe summer 
near Aldershot and elsewhere. 
This would not entail much expense and the time the men would be 
away from their batteries would not be excessive. 
The training at a central camp would ensure uniformity in the win¬ 
ter training of the batteries, and enable more extended combined exer¬ 
cises to be undertaken. 
The system of training should aim at producing a clear and concise 
report of a position, road, or section of ground ; and it will probably be 
necessary to have some form of rough sketch attached to make it 
clearer, and to indicate points referred to in the report. 
Such a sketch should be devoid of all elaboration and the system so 
simple that any N.C.O., after due training—whether he be a skilled 
draughtsman or not—should be able to apply rapidly and effectively. 
Scouts will have very little time to complete any form of sketch, and 
the only materials likely to be at hand on service are a small 
compass, note-book, black pencil and ruler. 
If the sketch were to be of a road, the villages, cross roads, and 
principal details could be marked on the paper beforehand from a map 
in the possession of the officer sending the man out. 
This would form a rough outline which the scout could fill in as he 
went, so that his remarks in the margin, together with the sketch 
itself/would form all the report required. 
Similarly, if sent on a mile or so ahead to report on a position, the 
limits of the ground and any prominent features, such as line of a 
stream, the distance between villages on or near the crest, should be 
marked in his note-book from the officer’s map, and the man sent to 
complete the necessary information by writing it on the face of the 
sketch. 
In a great many cases, however, sketches of any sort could not be 
thought of in the hurry of active service, but still it should be possible 
for a trained man to write down concisely how the ground lies to the 
front of the position, what villages or stretches of road are visible, 
which are hidden by trees, whether the view is clear into the valley 
in front, any heights commanding the position, what sort of cover 
there is along its crest and what the slopes in rear are like, ways of 
approach and so on. 
Even this much, without any sketch, but referred to a map in the 
hands of the officer who receives it, will be of great use. 
But, in order to train a man to write such a short report as that 
indicated above, he must in peace time be taught a certain amount of 
simple sketching and map reading, to accustom his eye to take in the 
