COMMENDED ESSAY, 1892 . 
639 
of obedience so deeply rooted as to overcome even strong natural 
impulses and desires, and tbis habit can only be formed by constant 
careful practice—no less in the fire of a battery than in the conduct 
of an individual. 
The necessity, too, that our Fire Discipline should be of the very 
highest quality hardly needs proof. War is a game in which com¬ 
parisons are continually made; success depends less upon intrinsic 
merit than on comparative superiority. When the progress of artillery 
consisted mainly in improvement of materiel the question was one 
which concerned the regimental officer more remotely. The nation 
which had the best guns had the best artillery arm as a rule, and the 
introduction of a new weapon necessitated but few changes in handling, 
witness the intermixture of smooth-bores and rifled guns in the Prus¬ 
sian armies in 1866. Now, however, guns are practically the same all 
the world over, and the superiority of one artillery over another, when 
once on the battle-field, consists mainly in the pitch of perfection 
reached in the training and Fire Discipline of its personnel. 
Difficulties. 
Unfortunately this modern necessity for a higher standard of effi¬ 
ciency finds us already struggling with difficulties which it takes no 
small energy and perseverance to cope with. The introduction of 
short service and the high prices that obtain in the labour market 
have reduced the age of the recruit and diminished the period for 
which he serves, while to make matters worse, that fin cle siecle daughter 
of the horse leech, the Indian draft, is so exacting, that home batteries 
outside the 1st Army Corps can barely count (for the training of their 
young gunners) upon the three years which are considered necessary 
among nations which have universal conscription. Thus the increase 
in the tale of bricks we have to furnish follows close upon the reduc¬ 
tion of our allowance of straw. 
The Remedy. 
These then are our difficulties; but difficulties were made to be 
overcome—recognising them is half the battle : the only question 
which remains is what is the best way. In the mind of the present 
writer there is but one answer to the problem. It is unhasting yet 
unresting work , patient, systematic , careful, thorough instruction. 
It is, perhaps, in the system—or rather in the lack of it—that our 
present modus operandi leaves so much to be desired. There is so much 
to teach, so little time in which to impart the instruction, that it is 
absolutely imperative that not a minute shall be wasted, not an oppor¬ 
tunity neglected. The instruction must be so arranged that each one 
is thoroughly taught and practised in that which it is necessary for 
him to know, and that only ; nothing must be omitted, nothing 
unnecessarily repeated ; the grounding must be thorough, the stages 
progressive, and through all must be remembered the all-important 
fact that preparation for war is our sole and only raison d’etre. It is 
to be feared that such a system is far from being our general practice ; 
