COMMENDED ESSAY, 1895. 375 
appointed to a post in the chain of command for which he has not 
shewn himself, not merely presumably, but actually fitted, and that 
therefore in every case where an officer, be he of the Regular, Militia, 
or Volunteer services, is not efficient in respect to those duties for 
which his rank renders him otherwise suitable, he must be set aside as 
a dead-head for fighting purposes, and relegated to general adminis- 
trative duties exclusively. By this expedient will be avoided the 
troublesome dilemma of having to reverse the order of precedence, and 
place juniors practically in command of their seniors or else of permit- 
ting inefficiency during peace where it would be ruinous in time of 
war. In all probability if the system here advocated were to be 
strictly carried out general satisfaction would be the result. In the 
regular service the setting aside of any officer in a local Defence 
Scheme would be felt as such an extreme disgrace that it would never 
happen twice to the same individual, and if would in all probability 
very seldom happen at all. The same may be said of the Militia; and 
as to the Volunteers, especially the Volunteer portion of the Colonial 
Artillery, the rule would probably be acceptable, as it would afford to 
each officer the opportunity either of placing himself in the category of 
effective soldiers or of electing to retain a position applicable only to 
time of peace and which would soon come to be recognised as an 
honorary and social distinction and nothing more. 
Where the officers’ commands cannot be filled by efficient. officers 
the only course open to the organiser will be to fall back on non-com- 
missioned officers, and these should thereupon be given the opportunity 
of learning the duties they have been selected to perform. 
A TRAINING To Suit THE ORGANISATION. 
When we consider the existing system of training of our military 
forces in general, and of the Garrison Artillery in particular, it must 
be confessed that though many beneficial changes have been introduced 
of late years, there is still some room for improvement. The idea that 
all training should be for a definite end, and that the average progress 
made should bear a reasonable proportion to the time occupied, has 
taken root but slowly. We have indeed recognised the distinction be- 
tween essential and non-essential training in the separation of ceremonial 
and service drills, and of skilled and unskilled duties; we have also 
given way to the necessity of advanced courses of technical instruction 
in particular directions. But there is still a want of clear perception 
as to the purposes of training, and much confusion between training for 
war, and other classes of instruction. ‘There are many survivals in our 
military routine of the opinions and habits of a past age when the 
soldier enlisted for life, and the weapons and appliances of war were so 
simple that time would have hung heavy on his hands, but for a thou- 
sand pendantries invented expressly for his benefit, and hedged about 
with extraordinary pomp. 
Those were days when every officer of equal rank was assumed to be 
equally capable, and the private soldier had no individuality, but was 
a strictly interchangeable factor, for ever under instruction, yet never 
proficient. The application of advanced science to the art of war, and 
51 
System of 
training— 
past and 
present, 
