COMMENDED ESSAY* 1899. 
429 
he is instructing his section for their first course, and when he is on 
leave. While the other subaltern courses are going on, he could de¬ 
vote himself entirely to it, and while the major’s and colonel’s courses 
are going forward he would rarely be required for more than two or 
three hours a day, twice or three times a week. In the summer he 
would hold courses in his speciality and this he could easily arrange to 
fit in with his company work. 
During the drill season, lectures would be given to the whole garri¬ 
son, each officer lecturing on the subjects which he had made his own. 
These lectures would be of interest, not only to the officers and men 
of the Royal Artillery, but those about the navies of foreign countries, 
would attract officers of other branches of the service, 
economical To refer now to the economical aspect of the new 
Aspect. system. No officer would receive his armament pay 
until he had passed a satisfactory examination at the end of his first 
or general course. If he did not pass satisfactorily, his pay would be 
withheld till he did. This would be an incentive to young officers to 
work, and as they probably join the army with a sort of “ boy out of 
school ’’feeling it would save a great deal of trouble. The present 
specialists would be absorbed into the Regiment, and their pay would 
be saved 
When the second (or specialist) course of six months was over, the 
officers would be classed. All classed as very good, would receive an 
extra shilling a day It is surely not much to ask an officer to be very 
good in a subject which he is allowed to choose—90% should come 
up to this standard. The extra expense of this shilling would be more 
than covered by the saving of the specialist pay. 
There are in the February Issue of the Royal Artillery Regi¬ 
mental List, nine officers shown as Instructors in Range Find¬ 
ing. three are shown as Instructors in Gunnery. They are paid 
at the rate of 11/4 each. By absorbing them into the Regiment 
a saving of 136 shillings a day would be effected. There are now 
some 130 1st lieutenants serving in the Garrison Artillery, and the 
amount saved would provide each of these with an extra shilling. 
The cost of the new courses would be covered to a great extent by 
the abolition of the old ones. 
Management There are also a few reforms with regard to the 
of men. management of the men which must be referred to 
as they are bound up with the introduction of systematic management. 
One of the evils of the Garrison Artillery is the way men are employ¬ 
ed, and their major cannot touch them. It is a rare, it would almost be 
fair to say, an unheard of thing, for a major to see his whole company 
on parade except at inspections. This must be wrong. A hard and 
fast rule should be introduced that every employed man, signaller and 
servant, mess butler and artificer, should attend parade once a week. 
A parade rarely lasts more than two or three hours, and to ask a man 
who is paid as a soldier to devote two hours a week to his profession 
is surely not much. Every sort of difficulty would no doubt be made 
to this reform, but if an order were issued, things would accommodate 
themselves to it 
