OKEHAMPTON EXPERIENCES, 1894. 19 
I think that is all that there is to answer. Colonel Marshall having already 
answered Major LLoyd. 
Tur CuarrRMAN—Gentlemen, I think there is no doubt that we have run too 
much in the direction of the “‘ deliberate’? system of taking up positions. I 
agree with Major LLoyd, and Colonel Marshall bears me out, that there has been 
a mistake in this way. It is rarely, I should imagine, that one would be able to 
practice it on service, though it is a good system for occasions, and would be 
most useful when practicable. I think, that when once you are launched in 
action, you will, as a rule, have to take up positions rapidly, and take your chance 
as to cover. Most hunting men, when travelling by train, choose their places in 
the fences, and get over them very easily and successfully, and I think that, in 
the same way, useful practice can be had by military men, particularly when riding 
through a country, if they selected positions for batteries, or troops, and then pro- 
ceed to test them and see what they turn out to be. No doubt we should often 
be disappointed, and find that what appeared very promising was not so satisfactory 
as we had expected, but practice would enable us more readily to fix on positions 
that were good. 
I agree with Colonel Ollivant, as far as my experience goes, that mounted 
orderlies would in most cases be the best way of conveying messages, a mounted 
man for each battery, and a dismounted man stationed in rear of each battery, 
seems to me asystem that ought to work very well. 
I was glad to hear from Colonel Marshall that the tendency now is towards 
simplicity, and to getting one type of everything as far as possible. The case, 
noticed by the lecturer, of an Officer Commanding a Brigade-division having to 
give three different settings to as many batteries, must create difficulties and 
chances of error, and the sooner that sort of thing is done away with the better. 
I do not think there is anything else that I can usefully refer to, but I should 
like, with your approval, to tender a vote of thanks to Major Hughes for the trouble 
he has taken and for the valuable lecture that he has given us, 
Carried with applause, 
