GOLD MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1899. 383 
• ^ 
in the school. 
(5). It must be remembered that education is only the accumula¬ 
tion of stores, the bricks anld mortar in fact, on the initiative skill of 
the student, on his constructive power depends whether he can make 
any use of the materials collected. In any scheme for introducing 
technical education into the service, the teaching of the sciences with 
a view to their application to military purposes only, must be guarded 
against. Time must be spent in acquiring a good fundamental know¬ 
ledge of each subject, this is a drudgery which cannot be avoided, 
the application follows as a matter of course. 
It would be useless to give here a detailed syllabus for a six months 
course of instruction for regimental officers; many of the subjects 
mentioned at the commencement of this essay would have to be 
touched on, over some, much time would have to be spent, while 
others could be dismissed in a few lectures. It would be very impor¬ 
tant to distinguish between those subjects which are likely in the 
future to play an ever increasing part in connection with the applian¬ 
ces used in coast defence, and those whose role is decreasing day by 
day—among the former would be electricity, the application of which 
to service stores would have to be dealt with thoroughly, if all regi¬ 
mental officers are in future years to be capable of carrying out the 
duties now performed by trained specialists. The inspection, care 
and preservation of all warlike stores, whether they come under the 
heading of guns, carriages, ammunition or instruments, should be un¬ 
derstood by all officers, so much of the various sciences should be 
taught as would enable officers to do this and also to draw right con¬ 
clusions from accidents or any other peculiar circumstances which 
come under their notice, and so frame reports which can be of service 
to others. 
No more need be said with regard to the details of the syllabus. 
The instruction must be sufficiently general to avoid the reproach of 
being formed for one particular purpose, or to bring to the front one 
particular subject, and it must be sufficiently practical to be of use to 
officers in their daily work; general principles must also be taught as 
well as practical methods. 
26. 
