COMMENDED ESSAY, 1899. 
419 
subjects which require specialist training, such as the working of range 
instruments and communications, the details for which should be found 
by the district staff. 
The officers should keep in touch with this work, being sent for 
short courses to Shoeburyness or Golden Hill when necessary. 
Conclusion. 
We have attempted to trace the training required from the day a 
man joins the Royal Military Academy as a Cadet, till he rises to the 
higher ranks of his profession, and have taken as an example an officer 
who starts as and remains a coast artilleryman., The consideration of 
the training of officers who enter the Regiment without the Academy 
course would be beyond the limits of this Essay, and we will only say 
that they should be given as much instruction as possible in the techni¬ 
cal subjects enumerated, by attending special courses at the Ordnance 
College and at Shoeburyness. 
It will also be noticed that we make no mention of the case of offi¬ 
cers transferred from the mounted branches to Garrison Artillery, for 
as we write, we are approaching the period of the year when rumours 
and schemes of separation are rife, and when, no doubt, the long pro¬ 
mised division of our Regiment is about to take place. 
In conclusion, the suggestions made in the preceding chapters may 
be summed up as follows: — 
I. A progressive training, with a definite object in view, should 
commence from the day a cadet joins the Royal Military Academy. 
2., The difference between coast and siege artillery training should 
be more distinct 
3. A great deal more local instruction should be given than at pre¬ 
sent, courses being formed annually at all the larger stations for train¬ 
ing in siege work, electricity, steam and hydraulics, range finding, 
signalling, and quick firing guns, according to circumstances. 
4. More attention should be paid to instruction in armament work. 
5. Besides the ordinary training available, a great deal of personal 
study is very necessary, an officer must make the best of every oppor¬ 
tunity given him of increasing his knowledge, and must remember, 
that when all is said and done, the best training of all is that afforded 
by experience to obtain which one must “ Live and Learn.” 
