COMMENDED ESSAY, 1899. 427 
true specialists and only want encouraging and helping on in their own 
line to be of the utmost value. 
Sixth—At present, if heavy armament work has to be done, it has 
to be carried out by an officer who has a partially trained aptitude in 
this line, or failing him, by a sergeant who has been through the Long 
Course In future the armament specialist would be summoned and 
the work properly done. 
Seventh—The “ Garrison Artillery Drill ” directs that the Fire 
Commander shall identify the vessels approaching. It admits that 
“ 1 he enemy will do all in his power to disguise his vessels ” and yet it 
takes the optimistic view that “ he (the Fire Commander) should soon 
be able to master this ” (i.e., the identification of ships,) “ or he should 
choose an officer who has shown an aptitude.” The new course will 
provide such an officer and this important matter will no longer be left 
to chance. 
Eighth—If a question of coast defence is being discussed, at present 
the senior officer Royal Artillery is summoned. He may have travelled 
and seen coast defences elsewhere, his opinion may be of the utmost 
value; but, if he has served inland perhaps in other branches of the 
service, his opinion cannot carry weight; whereas a properly trained 
junior officer could put forward the scientific theoretical aspect of the 
question and leave it to be settled by those senior to him, as to how 
the principles could be best carried out. 
This is a most important point, for coast defence is a subject in¬ 
volving the expenditure of large sums of money, and mistakes once 
made cannot be readily rectified. 
Alteration in It will now be well to discuss the alterations in organ- 
oreranization. ization, which are dependent on the introduction of a 
new system. 
At present there is a great disinclination among the senior ranks 
to go abroad, and a company at home is a thing to be sought after and 
paid for. 
The companies at home and abroad are regarded as being on much 
the same footing and the same work is expected from each. This is 
the result of a failure to recognize the totally different conditions under 
which they serve. The difference must exist, and instead of trying 
to gloss over the fact of our home garrison companies being composed 
of raw soldiers and our foreign companies of trained men, it is better 
to emphasize the difference and to legislate for it. Assuming the 
scheme which has been suggested as being carried out, the difference 
will be still more strongly marked. 
Home In a company at home there will be one senior subal- 
com panics. tern and one or two young officers and a number of 
young soldiers, the whole year would be spent in training these officers 
and men into as high an efficiency as can be attained. Until the re¬ 
cruits can be enlisted in large batches it is hard to lay down a system¬ 
atic scheme for their instruction. 
The major’s lot would not be an enviable one, he would be com¬ 
manding a sort of glorified depot and trying to make the best of raw 
materials. But should any emergency arise the companies at a few 
