374 
GOLD MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1899. 
pace with the work—supposing that only part of the district had been 
engaged, numerous small repairs would be necessary, for we have 
some idea of the damage to materiel that would be caused by a hail 
of Q.F. shells, also after firing a number of rounds, many mountings 
etc. might require careful examination and parts replacing or adjust¬ 
ing ; meanwhile the rest of the district must be kept in a most efficient 
state, even more so than in peace time. At home, drill would pro¬ 
bably be carried on daily by Militia and Volunteers, all of which 
would give increased work and necessitate much supervision of the 
armament, or supposing some new work had to be undertaken, while 
a state of war existed, a new mounting put up for example, this would 
require the personal superintendance of the I.O.M. for a week at least 
and would employ several of the armament artificers ; meanwhile the 
ordinary work must fall behindhand—it would be impossible for the 
I.O.M. to see to everything himself, great responsibility must be 
thrown on the armament artificers, would the result be satisfactory ? 
Should these N.C. officers be placed in such a position? Would it 
not be much better for the regimental officers or at any rate a certain 
proportion of them to be so trained as to be capable in case of necess¬ 
ity of doing work similar to that of the I.O.M., these officers could 
then at any moment be called upon to examine the armament and 
with the assistance of the artificers rectify any defect. Should a 
casualty occur amongst these specialists, which would be only natural, 
then a trained officer might by making use of the machinery gunners 
be of great value in surmounting some difficulty of the moment when 
these men’s undirected efforts would probably be of little avail. 
Again take the case of a boiler and engine employed in connection 
with the armament, are they to be dependent on a few specialists ? 
Why should not all regimental officers understand the principles of 
stoking, the working of the engines, and even have some idea of re¬ 
pairs. There must be many officers in the Garrison Artillery who are 
capable of profiting by a thoroughly good training both in theoretical 
and practical branches of mechanics etc. but when trained, the second 
objection which I have mentioned must be overcome by encouraging 
them in every way to keep up their knowledge by being present when 
the I.O.M. is inspecting or carrying out repairs etc. and whenever the 
slightest breakdown occurs or a defect is developed they might be 
called upon to state what they consider the proper remedy, in this way 
they would be able to apply their theoretical knowledge and gain 
practical experience. These officers must be company officers, what 
is wanted are men who can combine their regimental knowledge with 
a fair share of scientific or mechanical training, men to fall back on in 
case of need. Some people advocate the abolition of the specialist 
altogether, urging that those who work the armament should also look 
after it and be responsible for its care and preservation; although 
there may be much advantage in this, it can hardly be possible with 
so much machinery etc. as in use at the present day, occasionally high 
mechanical skill will be required and an officer cannot be expected to 
attain to this, in a short time. There must be someone to fall back 
pn or refer to in case of need, and we must have a corps of mechanics 
