428 
COMMENDED ESSAY* 1899. 
days’ notice can be stiffened into any degree of serviceability that is 
required, by the addition of reserve men, and if there is a paucity of 
officers, it can be made good at twenty-four hours notice. The com¬ 
pany would have a scrambling time and probably would not be very 
smart, but if it were wanted for service it would not be found wanting. 
Foreign To turn now to companies on foreign service, a totally 
Companies. different problem presents itself. The men are all 
trained and of the subalterns, none would have less than three years’ 
service. The machine would be there to hand and the question would 
be how to make it most efficient. The following systematic course is 
suggested: — 
Two points must be recognized; that on foreign service, officers 
want leave, and that trained men do not require to be kept in the 
collar all the year round. 
Division of The year would be rigidly divided into two periods, 
the year. the drill season and the leave season. 
During the drill season every officer should be present. 
During the leave season as few officers as it is possible to carry on 
the work with. 
To take a company of normal strength, during the leave season, the 
Major or Captain and one subaltern should amply suffice. 
In this connection it must be pointed out that the disability Com¬ 
panies suffer from of bearing officers on their strength who are at the 
Staff College or going through the Long Course, ought to be for once 
and for ever abolished.. 
To consider the year’s work at a foreign station with a hot summer, 
April to September would be the leave season. 
By the first of October all the officers would be back, all having had 
their share of leave, glad to see each other again and anxious to com¬ 
mence work. 
subactem’e In October the first courses would begin ; they would 
Course. be absolutely under the subalterns, supervised by the 
major. Each of them would make out his own scheme, and at the end 
of his course, his section would be inspected and he would be judged 
by its efficiency. These courses would go on during October and 
November. 
Major's On the first of December the major would take over 
course. his company; which should be by that time thorough¬ 
ly exercised in drill. During December and January he would work 
his men up and at the end of January he would do his competitive 
practice. 
colonel's February and March would be the colonel’s months, 
course. They would be devoted to working out schemes of 
coast defence, mobilizing, manning all forts* and working intelligently 
on the broad base of solid drill which would have been prepared. 
After March the drill season would be over and during the summer, 
things would be let down easy. Classes would be formed for special¬ 
ists, and armament work would be carried out. 
specialists. Now during the whole year the only time when the 
specialist would have to keep his work in abeyance, would be when 
