88 OKEHAMPTON, 1895. 
REPLY. 
Caprain Huapitam—lI will take the few points which have been brought 
forward in order. 
As to firing at cavalry targets at over 1000 yards, 1500 yards or so, I said that 
the tramway was most useful at Okehampton, because it was of the utmost im- 
portance that batteries should know, what they cannot know now, how to deal with 
such targets. We have never had any practice in shooting at anything like fast 
moving targets at over 1000 yards. And I do not think anybody knows exactly what 
would happen ; we may have theories on the subject but it would be much better 
that we should have facts, and I hope that the tramways at Okehampton will give 
that very valuable practice next year. 
Then about departing from the hard and fast rules, of ranging in the drill- 
book, [ hope I was not generally misunderstood to mean that one should leave 
the rules in the drill-book. I said that the variations allowed by the drill-book 
were not taken advantage of. Such variations as that against an enemy in a dis- 
advantageous formation we should commence time shrapnel without verifying, 
and that in very short ranges we could open with time shrapnelimmediately. As 
to this latter case, you must remember that on coming into action you have 
always your guns loaded, and these six percussion shell in your guns ought to 
be enough to establish some sort of bracket. I do not believe in firing time 
shrapnel without having bracketed at all, however short the range. There were 
cases at Okehampton this year where the practice was entirely thrown away with- 
out any effect, even at the closest ranges, simply from blazing away without know- 
ing what the range was. 
About the wagons, the point that I wanted to bring out was that at present if 
the wagons are delayed for some reason or other the Major does zof find it out; 
he cannot look for them and the Captains, at Okehampton at any rate, did not 
send him word when delays took place. Asa fact, the limbers went away from 
the guns and the guns were left alone. I do not set up to discover a way out of 
the difficulty, but what I put forward for your consideration was the danger of 
allowing the limbers ever to go away until it was quite certain that the wagons 
were available. Wow you do it I do not care, but I think the limbers should not 
be allowed to go away as they do now, until it is quite certain that the wagons 
are available. I think that on service you would find the gunners looking 
uncomfortably over their shoulders if they found themselves with neither wagons 
nor limbers near them. 
As to the position of the limbers of Horse Artillery with cavalry the question 
of ammunition supply comes in. If you Let your limbers go away more than 10 
yards (and I think in most cases to get under cover they would have to go con- 
siderably more than that) the difficulty of ammunition supply comes in at once. 
No doubt that point will be considered by the drill-book committee. What 
we have got now is of course very plain upon the subject. 
About the pace for limbers going to the rear at “‘ wagon supply,” the drill- 
book says that their pace is the trot. We know that for moral reasons it is dis- 
tinctly ordered that guns retiring are to retire at the walk. I do not believe 
that infantrymen would ordinarily distinguish between a limber with a gun behind 
it and a limber alone, and I very strongly hold that if you let the limbers trot in 
peace, they are very likely to gallop in war. The effect on infantry coming up 
expecting to see the artillery in position if instead they were met by eighteen 
limbers galloping to the rear might be very disastrous. 
Then with regard to what Major Newton said about marking for fire discipline. 
He spoke of “slight inaccuracies.’ in the intervals between the sub-divisions as 
“minor irregularities.’’ This year the intervals varied from thirty-five to eight 
yards! I thought I had put forward a strong case for the importance of intervals, 
