80 
DISCUSSION ON ARTILLERY. 
and I am inclined to think, after what we have heard from Colonel 
Elmslie to-day, that he confirms that conclusion. The howitzers seem 
to have done their work most thoroughly in breaching also, and 
breaching is a thing which I confess we did not contemplate as being 
part of their duty. The guns and the equipment too seem to have 
behaved extremely well. 
As regards the ammunition, the larger shell which has been spoken 
of has been approved for use with those howitzers after wery consider¬ 
able trials, in which it has distinctly proved itself as accurate as and 
more destructive in effect than the service shell. 
As regards the fuzes, these Lyddite shells, as you know, are a new 
experiment; 1 mean they have never been tried in the field before; 
up to just before Colonel Elraslie's battery started for Egypt no 
Lyddite projectiles had been fired in this country, except under 
precautions. The question of what precautions were necessary was 
one that was referred to the Ordnance Committee. Bearing in mind 
that We were most anxious that Lyddite should be introduced into the 
service, because of what we have learned from many experiments to 
be its very destructive effect, we were most anxious that there should 
be no accident early in the stage of the history of Lyddite, which 
might have condemned it in the eyes of the Royal Artillery, and made 
the men afraid to use it. Consequently we stuck to these precautions 
and insisted on these precautions being carried out. And then there 
came the question of a new fuze. Now we had one fuze which we did 
not think altogether safe, because it contained fulminate. There was 
another fuze which was absolutely safe, but which would not act with 
reduced charges. Consequently we tried to get a fuze which would 
act with reduced charges and which at the same time would be 
perfectly safe. We attached, I must say, the most enormous impor¬ 
tance to this question of safety, because as I need not tell you, the 
explosion of a Lyddite shell in a gun is a very different thing from 
the explosion of a powder shell in a gun ; if the powder shell bursts 
in a gun, if the gun is properly made, all that it does, is perhaps, to 
damage the bore, but if the Lyddite shell bursts in a gun in all 
probability the gun will go too, and there will be a very serious 
accident. Therefore we have insisted on safety in our fuzes, and 
Colonel Bainbridge designed this fuze which was used by Colonel 
Elmslie, which is known as 9,000 M. I think it began at 9,000 and 
has gradually worked through various improvements till it has got to 
9,000 M. That is the fuze that was used by Colonel Elmslie, and he 
has fired 360 rounds with it and there was not one premature. I 
think that is a very satisfactory result. That there were nine per 
cent, of blinds was not the fault of the fuze, I think I may say, 
because, as Colonel Bainbridge has pointed out, this shell was not 
intended to act on graze or unless the fuze itself struck the object. 
That Colonel Bainbridge will find us a fuze that will act on graze and 
also be safe, I have little doubt. He tells us that he has experi¬ 
mented with one at Shoeburyness and now it will have to go through 
the mill of the Ordnance Committee's experiments until they are 
