Means of 
Instruction. 
Drill. 
Barrack- 
room instruc: 
tion. 
376 _ COMMENDED Essay, 1895. 
the adoption of short service in the army has made this system impos- 
sible any longer. We must henceforward perforce make up our minds 
what each soldier has got to learn, and teach it him as quickly as 
possible, for time is short and needs are pressing. 
Laying aside special courses of instruction outside the routine of 
regimental life, which are for the most part applicable to officers, non- 
commissioned officers, and specialists only, the means of training in the 
Garrison Artillery are :— 
Drill. 
Barrack-room Instruction. 
Gun Practice. 
Mannings for Exercise. 
As regards drill, no remark seems necessary except that it would be 
well if the difference between learning a drill for the first time, and 
going through it afterwards as an exercise, was always kept fully in 
view. It should also be observed perhaps that where a unit is told off 
to a particular fortress, but is non-resident, all its drills should be with 
the class of ordnance mounted in that fortress, and have a systematic 
reference to the duties to be performed there. 
With respect to Barrack-room Instruction, there isa great deal more 
to be said than is generally supposed. In a properly fitted-up instruc- 
tion-room, and even with no other appliances than a black-board and 
a piece of chalk nearly every duty can be taught part by part if not as 
a whole, and there are many elementary processes which can be far 
better explained this way than in any other manner. Even the higher 
duties which officers have to perform in the chain of fortresses command 
can be tanght up to an advanced stage by indoor work. Take for ex- 
ample the duties of a Fire Commander. A very simpie exercise can 
be carried out, which if properly conducted will be of the greatest 
assistance to him in his duties of identification, and classification of 
foreign ships. 
Some particular navy having been selected for the occasion, the 
officer who takes the part of Fire Commander will in the first instance 
be supplied with the regulation idenification cards, such as he would 
have at his command post. Another officer acting as umpire will show 
him one by one the photographs of certain ships belonging to that navy, 
the margins showing names, class, &c., being carefully covered up. 
The Fire Commander will then identify the ships to the best of his 
ability, and the umpire will note down the result, carefully recording 
the time taken in each case. The exercise may be made more difficult 
by dispensing with the identification card, and it may be extended by 
requiring the ire Commander to predict the square on his Fire Com- 
mander’s chart which each ship will have reached at the moment when 
his (the Fire Commander’s message) to the Battery Commander de- 
puted to deal with that ship, will have reached its destination ; certain 
conyentions as to time, speed, and ship’s course, based on actual ex- 
perience, being agrecd upon for this purpose. 
