COMMENDED Essay, 1895. 383 
made the duty of the Royal Artillery to give each officer a certain 
number of hours exercise in his special defence duties, with the assis- 
tance of parties of non-commissioned officers and men belonging to the 
district. It might also perhaps be arranged that Militia officers 
requiring more teaching than they were able to get during their annual 
training should stay on in the district for a short period of special 
instruction after their camp had been broken up. On the same prin- 
ciple it might be conceded that officers of non-resident units wishing 
to acquaint themselves with the details of the fortress to which they 
nominally belong, should be allowed to come there for stated periods ; 
all or part of their expenses being paid by the country. 
Such arrangements in addition to the other classes and regulation 
means of instruction would, if systematically carried out, probably do 
all that is really required for Militia and Volunteer Artillery officers, 
- and what has been said of officers might be made, with modifications, 
to apply also to the higher non-commissioned officers, especially those 
told off to officer’s positions in any defence or scheme. 
If the separate trainings of the units have been properly carried out, 
combined trainings should pass off without a hitch, and very few 
should be necessary. It will not be very often possible to assemble all 
branches for simultaneous training, but it will be fairly easy, as oppor- 
tunity occurs, to combine the regular artillery with each of the other 
branches separately. Combined trainings are likely to be most useful 
in the form of 
Barrack-room Instruction for officers and non-commissioned 
officers. 
Combined manning exercises. 
Combined gun practice. 
In Barrack-room instruction the method most likely to be found 
successful would be to combine a few Militia or Volunteer officers at a 
time, with a tolerably large number of regular officers who are already 
expert at the exercise to be followed up. 
In combined manning exercises the scheme of defence should 
certainly be strictly followed, but it may be advisable to substitute 
regular officers and regular non-commissioned officers for auxiliaries in 
certain posts during the instruction of novices. ‘Thus for instance, if 
the Gun Captains, and Gun layers of a group were unusually shaky, it 
might be as well to give them for the time being the help of a Gun 
Group Commander from the Regulars. 
By combined gun practice is here meant, not gun practice where the 
detachments are mixed, but either gun practice by regulars under their 
best officers, with the Auxiliary officers and superior non-commissioned 
officers in attendance to watch the proceedings under the guidance of 
a specially selected instructor, or else, gun practice by the Auxiliary 
Artillery with selected Regular officers as umpires; the proceedings in 
either case being followed next day by a lecture and discussion. 
There should not be any difficulty in carrying out this idea: probably 
52. 
Oombined 
training of 
Regulars and 
Auxiliaries. 
Barrack 
room. 
Combined 
manning 
exercises, 
Gun practice, 
