610 
COMMENDED ESSAY, 1892 . 
should be able to make a fair estimate of the distance to any prominent 
object within two miles. Nos. 1 can do a great deal to educate them¬ 
selves in this and in map reading ; their men soon become interested 
in the subjects, and it is curious to see what excitement is caused in 
pacing the distance on the spot, or measuring it on a map. These 
occupations lighten the tedium of the march, and raise wholesome 
subjects of conversation. 
Men. 
The men, with very few exceptions, are fairly educated, and excellent 
material. Every encouragement should be given to induce self-educa¬ 
tion amongst them. It costs little, for instance, to hang up boards 
containing the morse alphabet, or a few simple gunnery rules, in every 
barrack-room. The progress in Fire Discipline entirely depends on 
their officers and N.-C. officers, subject to the local advantages or 
disadvantages of the station in which the battery lies. 
Means External to the Battery. 
The influences from outside, which affect Fire Discipline in a battery, 
are so numerous and differ so widely both in their nature and impor¬ 
tance that an essay like the present can only touch the fringe of the 
subject. Almost every suggestion towards efficiency in the English 
Army resolves itself into a Treasury question. The artilleryman and 
the Treasury, unfortunately, regard each from diametrically opposite 
points of view. Yet, in many cases, the intelligent tax-payer would 
side with the gunner if the broad facts were laid clearly before him. 
The common sense of the country is not dim, and grasps the impor¬ 
tance of having its small force of mobile artillery perfect both in per¬ 
sonnel and materiel. Relying on the truth of the proverb, “ There is 
that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more 
than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty,” the Germans are in the act of 
spending £3,500,000 in order to develop their Field Artillery. 
Competitive Practice. 
General Nairne's Prize in India led the way. The new system of 
competitive practice and prizes for skill-at-arms has been a great step 
in advance. Forty-four batteries (putting aside the 7th Field Battery, 
which seems to have been unfortunate) competed in 1891. It is a 
remarkable fact that the credits for Fire Discipline vary very slightly 
as compared with the total points. 
The first battery, in order of merit, fired 137 rounds and obtained 328 
points for results on the targets. The 44th on the list fired 70 rounds 
and made 24 points on the targets. The latter, however, was superior 
in Fire Discipline ! It is credited with 50 marks, against 45 gained 
by the former. Two batteries obtained full credits (60) for Fire Dis¬ 
cipline, but the results (216) and (190) of their firing only place them 
13th and 17th on the list, one qualifying for a second, the other for a 
third prize. 1 
The first nine batteries average 47*6 for Fire Discipline, the last 
eight 45*7 ; which does not seem to tally with the enormous difference 
1 “ Summary of Competitive Practice.”—K.A.I. “Proceedings,” January, 1892, 
