4 
dover. 
The Mess Committee record with gratitude the presentation, to the Officers’ 
Mess, of a fine boar’s head, by Captain J. D. Anderson, E.A.; also the receipt of 
a cabinet photograph of Major-General Ormsby, who commanded the E. A., South- 
Eastern District, from 1864 to 1866, from Lieut.-Colonel W. G. Knox, C.B., 
which, when mounted and framed, will fill one of the two vacancies for portraits 
of Colonels-on-the-Staff since 1860, the other vacancy being that of Major- 
General Ehvin, who was commandant at Shoeburyness about 1870. The Mess 
Committee hope to receive a few more heads or horns, either as gifts or on loan, 
the ante-room requires four more, to fill blank spaces. One more want the Mess 
Committee desires to make known, viz. : Nos. 123, 124 and 144 “ Journal of the 
Eoyal United Service Institution,” which are required to complete the whole 
series, Yols. I. to XXXVI., which Colonel Lloyd, C.B., E.A., is presenting to the 
Mess. 
Lieut. E. L. Tomkins has rejoined 2 Company, on completion of the Long 
Course, and Lieut. C. G. Vereker takes his place in the next Long Course. 
2nd Lieut. G. B. Mackenzie has been appointed Instructor in Army Signalling 
for E.A. vice Vereker. Lieut. Mackenzie has recently obtained the Aldershot 
certificate. 
Lieut. Claud Lonsdale, Sussex Artillery, has joined the Depot for duty. 
WOOLWICH. 
The annual dinner at the E.A. Mess to owners and occupiers of land hunted 
over by the Drag took place on the 28th October; it was attended by a larger 
number of guests than usual, much to the delight of all connected with the hunt. 
The hunting season opened most successfully on the 1st November with the 
usual lunch at the Mess and the “ Earl of Moira ” run; there was a field of over 
70, besides a large contingent on wheels. Although the runs are gradually being 
restricted by the cutting of the new railway, the extension of fruit gardens, and 
the use of wire, the number of different runs seems if anything to increase, thanks 
to the Master’s genial manner with owners and occupiers. 
On the 7th November Lord Eoberts came down to lunch at Mess and hunt 
with the Drag; the meet was at Grove Park Station for the “ Mottingham Lane ” 
line, the second line finishing in the fields below Severndroog Castle. Lord 
Eoberts was well in front throughout, and expressed himself delighted with his 
ride. 
At the farewell dinner on the 7th December to the E.A. officers with drafts for 
India, there were present, besides Major Yorke, two ex-Masters of the Drag in 
Captains Vores and MacMahon. 
Golf has this year been placed on a very much better standing than heretofore; 
there is now a professional with a fixed charge for a round ; the course is greatly 
improved by the erection of wattles and arrangement of holes so that there is 
now no driving over the central path of the Barrack Field ; a room in the Cricket 
Pavilion is placed at the disposal of the Golf Club, and, finally, the caddies are 
relegated to the neighbourhood of the Pavilion and no longer haunt the Mess. 
During the autumn there have been four lectures at the E.A. Institution, all 
very well attended. A large party from the Staff College, with Majors Keir and 
White, and Captains Dawkins and Hume, came for the lecture on “ Okehampton, 
1894,” by Major A. J. Hughes. On the 30th November, Captain W. H. Wil¬ 
liams lectured at 5 pan. on his “ Travels in East Africa and Uganda the lecture 
was preceded by an “ At Home ” of the Committee E.A.I., with the result that 
there was an appreciative audience of some 250 ladies and gentlemen. 
