OKEHAMPTON EXPERIENCES* 1893. 
DISCUSSION. 
75 
Colonel C. E. S. Scott. —As somebody always has to open a discussion, I will 
just make a few remarks. I am sure we have all been very much interested in the 
admirable lecture to which we have been listening, and there are just one or two 
points in connection with it to which I should like to refer, although they are 
•very minor ones. 
One point is with regard to the carriage of the portable magazine. This is 
a question about which there is a great diversity of opinion, and a great many 
methods have been suggested for carrying it. As Major Hughes has pointed out 
to us, on the gun carriage of the experimental B.H.A. equipment, which is now 
under trial with “ P ” Battery, there are pockets on each side to hold two rounds, 
and the portable magazines are carried on the shelves at the back of the limber. 
This appears to be a very convenient arrangement, and, I understand, it relegates 
the portable magazine to the original purpose for which it was designed, namely, 
simply to be a bag for the conveyance of ammunition from the limbers or wagons 
to the gun; and if some sort of arrangement like this can be adapted to the 
existing service equipment it would probably meet the views of the Regiment and 
solve the difficulty. 
Another point is, with regard to the graduations of the tangent scales. I think 
myself that there will probably be considerable difficulty in connection with mark¬ 
ing the tangent scales at every 25 yards, as suggested by Major Hughes, and I 
believe it would not meet with universal acceptance. Perhaps some of you will 
remember that a year or two ago it was brought to notice by the Commandant at 
Okehampton, that owing to the numbers of hundreds of yards not being marked 
opposite each graduation on the tangent scale, errors in setting were constantly 
caused ; a new design was then called for, and a tangent scale was brought out in 
which the numbers of hundreds of yards were marked opposite the lines to 
which they refer : it was sent down to Okehampton, and approved of by Battery 
Commanders. It was then considered advisable to have tangent scales graduated 
in this way in future, and a number of them so graduated was sent out to 
India. It was only a short time ago, however, that a telegram came from India 
asking that the supply might be stopped as the design was not approved, be¬ 
cause it was found that the multiplication of markings on the tangent scale 
caused confusion. If this is the cause when the hundreds of yards are marked, 
it seems to me that it will be still more so when every 25 or 50 yards are marked. 
Then with regard to the clinometers. I think in making a comparison between 
the German clinometer and the Watkin clinometer, it ought to be remembered 
that the Watkin clinometer which was sent down for trial at Okehampton this 
year was one of the original clinometers altered, and fitted with a second drum 
and an adjustable plane. It was sent down with the object of testing the system 
of laying the gun from under cover in conjunction with a hydro-clinometer. 
The trial was not carried out, so it will have to be made next year, but the whole 
object of the trial was to test whether the principle of thus laying the gun from 
under cover is sound ; if it is found to be so, I understand from Colonel Watkin 
that he would have no difficulty in making a clinometer which would meet all the 
objections that have been raised by Major Hughes. I think we also have to 
remember as regards the Mark II. pattern Watkin clinometer which is now in use 
in the service that Colonel Watkin was called upon to fulfil certain conditions, 
and he did so. If you wish to have a smaller clinometer, and one that will also 
not weigh so much, I understand that Colonel Watkin can easily supply it if you 
will accept a clinometer with less range. I have now in my pocket, for instance, 
a small clinometer of his (producing the same) which will range up to 13^- degrees, 
and is graduated up to five minutes, so that one can easily set it to two minutes ; 
it is an instrument that one can carry in one’s waistcoat pocket. I think we 
