COMMENDED ESSAY, 1892 . 
617 
issued in large numbers in a very imperfect state. This gave a dis¬ 
tinct blow to Fire Discipline. 1 2 All the alterations since found necessary 
would have suggested themselves to practical gunners. This would 
have saved the country much expense. The higher the technical 
education tbe more valuable will be the confidence placed in the 
materiel of a battery ; and the more prejudicial will be any suspicion 
of weakness in the carriage, or uncertainty and want of proper effect 
in the ammunition. Mechanical perfection will never make up for the 
want of Fire Discipline, though it may be a great assistance towards it. 
Improvements in Materiel. 
This is not the place to go into the questions of “ high muzzle 
velocity,” and the margin of strength required in a field carriage. 
Yet it is the fact that the Horse Artillery find it impossible, with the 
present gun and carriage, always “ to be in a condition to come into 
position at the right moment.” And this from no fault of men or 
horses, but simply that, against practical experience, too much is 
demanded from the latter. The experiences on the Berkshire manoeu¬ 
vres, where they could not keep up with cavalry, though carrying no 
ammunition or limber gunners , have been intensified by the latest accounts 
from India. 
“ Hot one shot was fired by the R.H.A., who were busy extricating 
their teams and guns from the pitfalls they had encountered .... 
the much vaunted Horse Artillery could make no better hand of it 
out here than its representatives at the Berkshire manoeuvres did 
. . . . on the whole good-going; yet not once could the gunners 
get their guns to the front of the trotting line they started with. 
Whips were used unmercifully as it seemed, and men and horses 
strained every nerve to sustain their great reputation .... but 
to no purpose.” 3 
If this is true it tells against Fire Discipline, which demands sim¬ 
plicity and a large margin of safety in the carriage, combined with no 
greater weight than will permit of the gun being brought, by six 
horses, to the point required by tactical considerations at the proper 
moment. 
Ammunition. 
The results on the targets produced by the Swiss artillery raise the 
hope that inventive science will supply a projectile to supersede com¬ 
mon shell, and unite facility of observation with man-killing effect. A 
simple system of giving elevation by a graduated wheel and indicator 
1 The history of six of these carriages has been carefully verified. They were issued new from 
the Arsenal in November, 1890, to a Field Battery wnich practised at Okehampton in 1891. 
The collars were very stiff at practise, and oil holes were made on the top of two of them by the 
battery artificers. They were handed over to the B.H.A. in August, 1891, after the return 
march from Okehampton. Four guns were immovable and would neither be elevated or de¬ 
pressed. After dismounting the guns soaking in oil, and heating the collar, they were still 
unserviceable. They were sent to the Arsenal, the collars replaced by rings, oil holes bored in 
the top, and ostensibly placed in thorough repair. However, none of the brakes were to be 
depended upon. Thej were sent for again by the Carriage Department, and were in the Arsenal 
from 13th November, 1891, till 12th February, 1892; the traversing gear was removed, and the 
carriages presumably over-hauled. The brakes are still unreliable. How would this do on 
service? It must tell against Fire Discipline. Even in peace time it is serious that a battery 
should have no guns mounted, in order to train their men, for more than three months out of 
seven. 
2 “ Letters on Cavalry Camp of Exercise.”— Army and Navy Gazette, 23rd January, 1892. 
