206 
ARTILLERY AMMUNITION SUPPLY. 
they ever so willing, in many cases could not give him a clear road* 
He has received no orders from his brigade division commander, and 
is in an unknown country. You may see him in your mind’s eye, gallop¬ 
ing madly to and fro in search of the lost legion, and shedding wagons 
in every field. No, let the ammunition column remain as before, 
larger if unavoidable, and let the stringent regulations apply to it. 
With regard to the ammunition park little need be said. It is 
unwieldly now and would be more so in future. But one word of 
sympathy must be given to those “pairs of heavy horses” which, in 
the absence of motors, are to draw the additional wagons. Had 
Lieut.-Colonel Elmslie seen the condition of the baggage column 
horses at Salisbury last year he would certainly share that sentiment. 
However he was better employed. 
Though in the writers humble opinion, a large increase of 
ammunition is undesirable, we may possibly find ourselves able to steer 
between the Scylla of Lieut.-Colonel Elmslie's suggestion and the 
Charybdis of no increase. A certain addition might be obtained 
without any insurmountable difficulty. It might be partially effected 
by an improved construction of vehicles, by which of late years the 
amount of ammunition carried has been raised from 30 to about 50% 
of the total dead weight. The experimental carriages of the 
Paris Nordenfelt Company carry no less than 51%. Our present 
limbers carry about 36% and our wagons 37% of the dead weight. 
We may also, as Lieut.-Colonel Elmslie proposes, follow the example 
of our powerful neighbours and add either two or three wagons to 
each battery. This with two additional wagons would give us 179 
rounds per gun for field and 167 per gun for horse artillery. With 
three wagous, 196 rounds per gun for field and 182 for horse artillery, 
figures which are never likely to be exceeded. By this means our 
increased supply would be located where it is most wanted, and we 
could congratulate ourselves on having placed no further difficulties 
in the way of the u lumbering unwieldly ammunition column, 
wearily dragging its slow length along the roads.” 
