258 
MOUNTAIN ARTILLERY ESTABLISHMENTS, ETC. 
All guns in mule, or camel, pack transport for service in any country, 
wliere wheeled artillery is from the nature of the soil, or conformation 
of the ground, impracticable, or which can only supplement guns in 
pack transport in valleys, &c., must be included under the general sig¬ 
nification of Mountain Artillery. 
Elephants were finally discarded for the carriage of mobile mountain 
guns in pack transport, after the last Burmah campaign as unsuitable, 
and it has been recently laid down, that when human transport can alone 
be employed for the carriage of guns, machine guns, and not artillery, 
should accompany the force. Thus, either mule or camel, or a combin¬ 
ation of both, are the only forms of pack transport suitable for moun¬ 
tain guns. The transport of our permanent batteries is mules. 
It has been suggested that two or three Field Batteries on the 
home establishment should be converted into units equipped with 
Mountain guns in Cob draught for Colonial Service. Pony Field 
Batteries existed in the Native Artillery of our Punjab Frontier Force, 
and in the British Artillery in Burmah. They were found in each case 
to be a failure, neither fulfiilling the conditions of Field nor Mountain 
Artillery, and were finally converted into batteries of the latter branch. 
It is well-known what a failure the Austrian narrow track Field 
Batteries were in the Bosnia-Herzegovinian War. In any case, the 
conversion of even only two Field Batteries would seem to still further 
dangerously lower the already small proportion of field guns per Army 
Corps on our home establishment, without any apparent equivalent 
advantage. What is wanted are more Mountain Batteries. 
Our present permanent establishment of Mountain Artillery is 10 
service batteries. Eight of these batteries are localised for service in 
India, and with the eight native batteries, constitute the force of Moun¬ 
tain Artillery from which the necessary number of batteries required 
for a European war on our North West Frontier would be drawn. It 
is, however, estimated that a reinforcement from home, of one Moun¬ 
tain Battery at least, would be required on the commencement of 
hostilities, for the Kandahar “ Division of all Arms.” In Natal, we 
have one battery for service in Zululand and our South African 
Frontier generally. 
On our home establishment, we have one service battery maintained 
on an increased establishment as regards men for depot purposes, but 
on a totally inadequate scale as regards mules, even for instructional 
purposes, for six guns. In our Mediterranean garrisons, we have some 
mountain equipment stored at Malta, and at Cairo ; and at the latter 
station only, the garrison company receives some slight training with 
mountain guns,-with 20 regimental transport mules. 
The duties of the battery at home would appear to be :—- 
1. To perform with practically a battery staff, the duties of a sub- 
depot, in training and despatching under orders from the 
O.C. Western Division, recruits to the nine batteries abroad. 
2. To form a Mountain Artillery practice camp at Hay in the 
summer, for the purpose of conducting its practice as a 
service battery, and experimenting with new mountain 
equipment. 
