GOLD MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1899. 
375 
to carry out this work, but to rely in time of war on one or two special¬ 
ists keeping the whole of the armament in an efficient state seems to 
be running an unnecessary risk. To overcome objection three, the 
regimental officer should at practice be supreme, if any gear breaks 
down of whatsoever nature, he should remedy the defect to the best 
of his ability, in case of need he can call to his assistance the arma¬ 
ment artificer who might be present as he is now, and who would gain 
as much experience in seeing the attempted remedies of others as if 
he did the work himself. Under existing conditions the regimental 
officer considers that he will be held responsible for any damage he 
does if he attempts to interfere with the armament; he may say that 
in time of war he would not hesitate to adjust gear, repair electrical 
appliances, but could he do it, he has little scientific training to help 
him, and has gained no experience in times of peace, if he does dam¬ 
age in gaining experience, the State should pay for it, as the State gets 
the benefit of his experience, but there is no danger of such a thing 
occurring with any officer who brings to bear in each case the princi¬ 
ples which he would be taught at any technical school. On the peace 
establishments of the Garrison Artillery the following specialists as 
regard armament work are shown:—Armament Majors, Armament 
Captains, Captains for district duties, Lieutenants for district duties, 
Gunnery Instructors, and Inspectors of Range Finding. At Malta these 
total up to 15 and at Gibraltar to 24, although at present there are not 
officers selected for all the appointments. By giving an increased train¬ 
ing to company officers, all these specialists could be abolished—in this 
way company officers, who in the course of time would all be men with a 
fair amount of training, would be able to take entire charge of the 
armament with which they work. If we argue that very specially 
trained officers are necessary to look after Range and Position Find¬ 
ers, Telephonic Communications etc., in time of peace, then we are 
in the same position in time of war as with other specialists, owing to 
extra work and numbers reduced by casualties they will not be able 
to carry out their duties effectively and in most cases there will be 
nobody to fall back on, for the ordinary regimental officer will not 
have considered it necessary to keep up his electrical knowledge and 
other scientific acquirements. There seems to be no objection to 
some slight amount of specialising in the company itself so long as 
officers are not allowed to fall into grooves; one subaltern may be 
more fitted to look after delicate instruments or electrical appliances 
than another, then let one take charge of such instruments, if there 
are any in the district, and let another interest himself -chiefly in 
mountings etc. and so on, and with regard to a gunnery instructor it 
should be possible to have in each company one officer who has been 
specially trained, by going through the Long Course or some similar 
course of instruction. In this way with a little extra training, many 
of the disadvantages of having a number of regimehtal specialists act¬ 
ing independently in a district would be done away with and all the 
work in the sub-district would be concentrated under the officer com¬ 
manding the company who would be in charge of it in time of peace 
and fight it in time of war. 
