Practice at 
an objective 
direct on the 
battery. 
Disadvan- 
tages of 
proposed 
changes, 
560 COMPETITIVE PRACTICE IN THE GARRISON ARTILLERY. 
Suggestion number (2) at once sweeps away the disadvantages of 
the present system of selection of gun detachments and gun-layers for - 
the competition by the chief umpire, for all gun detachments and all 
gun-layers can now take part in the Competitive practice. 
Subaltern officers can throughout command men of their own half 
companies and layers can be employed with their own sub-divisions. 
The element of luck vanishes. 
This suggestion, moreover, at once prevents preference being given 
to any particular method of range-finding and obliges a commanding 
officer to train his men equally carefully in all. 
I submit also that this arrangement is a truer test of the efficiency 
of a company than a single day’s practice, which may be marred by 
bad weather or a crowded range. 
Suggestion number (3) encourages a commanding officer to train his 
men at rapid objectives. 
Until an automatically moving one is introduced it is, of course, 
impossible to shoot at a target approaching or departing from a battery 
direct, and in consequence men are rarely trained to lay on such an 
objective, some practice might, perhaps, be obtained by anchoring 5 
or 6 barrel targets in line and shooting rapidly at them in succession, 
taking the furthest first to represent a vessel approaching and the 
nearest first to represent one steaming away from the battery. 
I believe a ‘Brennan torpedo has been used to shoot at, but the 
installation below Cliff End battery is, I fancy, the only one possibly 
available for this purpose. 
I am aware that these proposed changes have their disadvantages, 
some companies do not get the same chance of practising with P.F.’s 
that others do; on the other hand, under the present arrangements, 
companies, who man casemated forts where a D.R.F. is never used and 
where men never lay or practice with straight-edged sights, have to 
carry out their Competitive practice with this method of range-finding. 
These matters can be equalized when grouping companies for the 
competitions. Combined practice also creates some difficulties, as one 
fort is easier to shoot from than another, still this can be to a great 
extent neutralized by having two days’ combined shooting, when, of 
course, one company would take one fort one day and another another. 
The duties of the umpires would, undoubtedly, be more complicated 
and arduous, but still, I think, would present no insuperable difficulties. 
Should the idea of spreading the Competitive practice over several 
days’ firing be not contemplated, I would, in order to eradicate the 
element of luck, suggest the following modifications in the selections 
of gun detachments and gun-layers by the chief umpire. 
Hach half company to produce as many detachments as possible—as 
a rule this is four, or two per sub-division—the chief umpire to select 
one out of each sub-division or, at anyrate, two out of the half com- 
pany, this will ensure the half company officer having command of his 
own men and will equally ensure the same number of well-drilled 
detachments as under the present system. 
With regard to layers, I should propose that two per competing 
detachment be told off and that they be changed in the middle of the 
