BRITAIN'S DEFENCES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1838, 26 August 1913, Page 5

BRITAIN'S DEFENCES.

STARVED ARTILLERY. LORD ROBERTS'S APPEAL 'In the course of an interesting letter to tho London "Daily Mail" last month, Lord Roberts said: I am afraid very littlo attention has been paid by the genoral publio to the answers by Lord Lucas on, July 2 to Lord Wynford in tho House of Lords on tho subject of our horso and field artillery. An army is an. expensive article in any case, it it is unfit for war, tho money spent on it is simply wasted.. Everyono acquainted, however slightly, with military history knows the immense importance of success gained in the first encounter with the enemy. Infantry is tho principal arm, but its success or failure dopends largely on tho artillery.

A battery of artillery is not unlike a pianoforte in that it is valueless unless tho instrument is itself reliable and tho performer an ' accomplished musician. Unless his pianoforte is a good one, and every not© in tho keyboard in perfect tuuo, oven a Paderowski cannot give a.successful performance. So it is with a battory. Every subordinate, be ho officer, non-commissioned layer, fuse setter, or driver, must bo thoroughly efficient or it is impossible for tho battory commander to make his fire effective. It is equally true that the' most perfectly drilled battery will do more harm than good to its own infantry unless the commanding officer knows his work thoroughly. The French Example. Now efficiency in fighting a horse or field battery can only be obtained in ono way, that is, by practice with live ammunition over a land range. There is no substitute for this. ' The amount of the practice wo give annually even to our regular offioers is inadequate; both the French and the Germans give their officers more practice than v/e do. our annual allowance is at the rate of 100 or 80 rounds per gun, in the French Army, as Lord Lucas has stated, "150 rounds per gun aro fired annually, but in addition many batteries at practice camps fire a great many more; 50,000 rounds are allowed for tho gunnery courses in March and April at the Camp do Mailly alone, and those are fired in addition to 150 rounds per We cannoit, therefore, _ f<x>l satisfied with tho complete, readiness for war of even our regular batteries until their annual allowance of practico ammunition is increased. What, then, are we to expect from our territorial, batteriesbatteries which cannot possibly bo aS reliable to handle as those m tlio regular Army, and in which, even according to Lord Lucas, the officers have not more than one-fourth of tho practice affordsd to their brother officers in the regular batteries? "No Use to Tholr Own Side." Five yoars ago, in a speech in tho ■House of Lordis, I gave my reasons for condemning Lord Haldane s sobeme for raising Territorial horse, and field artillery. I need not weary l you with . a reiteration of my arguments. I would only repeat that, unless tho battery commander can burst his shells where they are required, ho and his battery are of mo use to their own side, however valuable they may be to the eaiemy. If an overage officer in the Regular artillery cannot bo said to readh ..complete efficiency in a battery firing 600 round's a year, how can any reasonable maai suppose that am average officer in the Tenritorial artiUery can bo aiiiyi good go long as his battery fires, only 150 rounds a year? Without adding a penny to our Estimates, Mie' could greatly, increase the effioieuoy cf our preparations for war as regards horso and field artillery.' Wo can maintain a Regular battery for the money wo spc-nd'on, five Territorial batteries. The cost of a round) of ammunition is the same, whether fired, by Regulars or ■by Territorials., Tho range accommodation and practice ammunition now allotted to Territorial batteries should be utilised to give additional practice to our Regular Datteries.