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Field artillery.
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in advising that any extension in the mounted forces of the Colony should be in the direction of mounted riflemen. In this opinion the Colonial Defence Committee concur, and would call attention to the following paragraph, contained in their Remarks dated 16th May, 1890, on Major-General Edward's Reports on the Organi- zation of the Military Forces of the Australian Colonies :-
The Colonial Defence Committee consider that all the mounted forces should be organized and trained as mounted infantry. Cavalry in the European sense are not required to meet the probable conditions under which any Australian force would be employed.”
The total peace establishments of the cavalry regiment and mounted rifles are now 408 and 391 respectively, and their war establishments 602 and 585. The Com- mandant (paragraph 30) has asked approval for ten extra men for each of the eight half companies of mounted rifles. This, if granted, will raise the peace strength of a company to 114.
The war establishment of a company in the Imperial service is 131 mounted officers and men, and ten dismounted meñ.
4. The Colonial Defence Committee have already noted with satisfaction that a complete equipment of the nature recommended in their Memorandum No. 65 M, dated the 12th June, 1896, has been provided for the Permanent "A" Battery of the Brigade Division of Field Artillery. They trust that it will be found possible to make early provision of funds to supply "B" and "C" batteries also with the 15-pr. B. L. guns. They still adhere to their recommendation that one of these should be a six-gun and the other a four-gun battery when on war establishment, and that the total Field Artillery personnel, exclusive of staff, should be 345 in peace, and 560 in war. The latter number corresponds closely with that laid down in the Table of Establishments which accompanied the Returns of Resources on the 31st December, 1896, but the peace establishment there proposed is only 265 of all ranks (exclusive of staff), and it is anticipated that difficulty would be experienced in bringing this number up to 560 with trained men on mobilization. The proposal of the Officer Commanding the Artillery (Appendix C, paragraph 3) to increase the present peace establishment of "A" battery from sixty-five to seventy-three of all ranks is in the right direction, and if, as he suggests (paragraph 11) only N. C. Os. and specialists be re-engaged after a first period of limited engagement, it should be possible, by passing other men into a reserve of the permanent force for a further definite period, to add considerably to the peace strength of this battery with trained men in war. With regard to "B" and "C" batteries the question of adding to their strength in war forms part of the general subject of a reserve for the partially-paid force which is dealt with
below.
The absolute necessity for a longer training being given to "B" and "C" batteries, if these units are to be looked upon as in any way efficient. is strongly urged by the Commandant. According to the Returns of Reserves for 1896, only thirteen days' training were provided for these as well as for other units of the partially-paid forces It is scarcely necessary to point out that Field Artillery with this training can be Field Artillery only in name, nor the absolute insufficiency of one day in camp for annual practice.
It ought to be found possible to secure within accessible distance of Sydney, a more suitable ground for the field-firing of the artillery than an open sea beach, which has the obvious disadvantages referred to by Colonel Smith. (Appendix C, para- graph 4.)
The Officer Commanding the artillery proposes that the establishment of horses of A" battery should be raised from fifty-two to sixty, and this proposal is supported by the Commandant (paragraph 8), who also suggests (paragraphs 31 to 35) that Government should purchase horses for the gun teams of "B" and "C" batteries, in place of the present system of hiring at each training all the horses required for these units at the very high rate of 15s. a-day, the horses so hired being quite unsuited for the work required of them. It is obvious that a system by which a high rate is paid for an unsuitable article, is in no sense economical; the proposal of the Commandant presents a partial solution of the present difficulty, but it would certainly, for financial reasons, be impossible to keep up in peace even a large proportion of the horses that would be required on mobilization. Colonel Smith states, no doubt correctly (Appendix C, paragraph 6), that "probably in time of national emergency, better horses may be available than are now procurable on the hire system." make certain that the full number of suitable horses which may be required for artillery and other purposes will be then available, it appears to be for consideration
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