510 
ORGANISATION OP A GARRISON COMPANY. 
Duties of 
Subaltern 
Officers. 
5th 
Subaltern. 
Difficulties 
in carrying 
out above. 
Out 
Detach¬ 
ments. 
Messing. 
regards the care of the guns and ammunition, over which the Master- 
Gunner has charge, the latter being immediately responsible to the 
officer in charge of the fort as heretofore. 
The subaltern officers to keep squad-books of the men in their divi¬ 
sions, specifying the gun squads, gun-layers, specialists, &c., and a list 
of men to be kept in each barrack-room showing each man's place on 
the fort, what group he belongs to. and his number in the gun detach¬ 
ment. 
The fifth subaltern if there is one to look after the out detachments, 
if there is not, one of the others to be told off monthly to perform this 
duty in addition to the charge of his own division. 
In carrying out any such system of organisation as the above, I am 
fully aware there are many difficulties to be contended with. 
The following I regard as the two principal, viz. : 
(a.) The many and ever changing out detachments that have to be 
found. 
If a company one week finds a detachment 20 strong, if the next 
week this has to be increased owing to armament work or other causes 
to 40, and the following week two other small detachments say have 
to be found, it stauds to reason it is very difficult to keep the divisions 
or sub-divisions together. 
Ideally speaking one ought to send a division on detachment, or a 
sub-division, keeping the remainder together as would be done in the 
mounted branches, but in furnishing isolated detachments in the Gar¬ 
rison Artillery especially for sea forts, the best men, and very often men 
with some technical knowledge, and in all cases volunteers if possible 
should be sent; take for instance one of the Spit forts, the detachment 
here often consists of men assisting the ordnance artificers, men learn¬ 
ing the hydraulic lifts, machinery gunners, recruits learning gun-drill, 
&c., it would be impossible to have all these men in one division, as 
when manning a fort they must necessarily be split up among all four. 
What I propose is this, to keep always the cadres of each sub-division 
at head-quarters, and when furnishing detachments, to send an equal 
number, as far as possible, of men from each, the Divisional Officers 
and Hos. 1 selecting such men according to their fitness for the duties 
required of them, always giving* preference when it can be done to 
volunteers. 
When such detachments are called in to head-quarters, for annual 
training, inspections &c., the men forming the same will rejoin their 
own sub-divisions, and will find their place ready for them at any time 
in their own barrack-rooms. 
The men can mess either by sub-divisions or divisions according to 
the numbers at head-quarters, and the size of the barrack-rooms. 
{b.) The second great difficulty to be contended with is the constant 
transfer of the N.-C. officers to the Auxiliary forces, Depot, District 
Staff, &c., or their temporary absence from the company for courses. 
This cannot, I suppose, be helped, all that can be done to obviate 
the inconvenience arising from it, is to split up among the different 
