GOLD MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1899. 
373 
The first objection is a question as to whether an officer can com¬ 
bine the scientific knowledge which he is to acquire with the regimen¬ 
tal duty which he is already doing and do it better than before— 
very possibly all cannot, but there will be some, very likely the 
majority, who will so benefit by a course of instruction that a new 
world of thought will be openfed before them, and they will be dis¬ 
posed to investigate the reason of everything which they see working 
around them. 
As has been advanced in favor of technical education in civil life 
“ it teaches men to understand some of those phenomena and laws of 
nature which ordinarily lie hidden just beneath the surface of things 
most common to them.” This will not detract from a man’s capacity 
for military duties in any way, but enable him to combine with them 
such knowledge as would lead him to offer suggestions for the sim¬ 
plification of the systems of drill and fire discipline. In future wars 
in which Garrison Artillery may be called upon to take part, superior¬ 
ity of weapons, seems even more likely than ever to produce moment¬ 
ous results and by weapons in this case is meant not only the gun 
itself, but also the mounting, ammunition, and the numerous scien¬ 
tific devices which are employed to make each gun part of a com¬ 
bined system, very powerful so long as each link in the chain is doing 
its proper work, but much less so when through any failure in materiel 
or design, a break-down occurs—should not every Garrisos Artillery 
officer be well acquainted with the principles upon which the smooth 
working in each link of the chain depends, whether it is an electrical 
appliance as in a telephone or firing circuit, or a mechanical combina¬ 
tion as in a breech mechanism, or some principle of hydraulics as in 
a buffer of a mounting etc., etc. 
The second and third objections are closely connected, they open 
up the whole question of the “ Advisability or otherwise of employing 
specialists.” 
To my mind the mere employment of specialists points to the fact 
that we recognise the inability of the ordinary company officer to do 
the necessary work connected with Garrison Artillery Armaments. 
These specialists belong to two branches of the service. Firstly—to the 
Army Ordnance Corps, amongst whom are the Inspectors of Ordnance 
Machinery and the Armament artificers, a most important body of men, 
for on them devolves the duty of keeping the armaments in a state 
of efficiency. Secondly—To the Regimental Establishment of the 
Garrison Artillery which includes among the Officers, Gunnery In¬ 
structors, Inspectors of Range Finding etc., and among the men, gun¬ 
ners, as Layers, Range Finders, Machinists etc. Those who are high¬ 
ly skilled mechanics like the Inspector of Ordnance Machinery and 
his assistants the armament artificers, are necessarily limited in num¬ 
ber, and even in time of peace they are fully occupied in carrying out 
the necessary inspections and examinations in their districts. What 
would happen in time of war ? Their work in time of peace is necess¬ 
ary for the keeping up of the armament in a proper state of efficiency, 
it is not mere ornamental work which could be dispensed with—one 
can easily conceive a case when they would be quite unable to keep 
