The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-03-11
BoER TACTICS FOR BRITISH SOL
 TNTGtpC


 The War Office has under considera- tion a, new system of training cavalry, which has been prepared by an officer who commanded a mounted infantry column with distinction during the South African war.
 The new method has already been on trial for some weeks at Hounslow, and is said to have given very satisfactory results. It is based upon the idea, which was brought home to command CTS in South Africa, that the cavalry man Of the future will have to be an expert shot and scout as we'll as a good horseman.
 Hitherto a good deal more attention has been paid to horsemanship than to craftsmanship in training of cavalry, but at Hounslow equal stress is n~v laid upon the importance of shooting and scouting. The training is divided into three parts. The recruit is first made horseman. Next he is taught to shoot, and finally he is instructed in the arts of scouting and dispatch-r riding, which were learned by the officers while chasing the Boers.
 The cavalry at Hounslow consists of the reserve scuardons of the Seventh and Tenth Hussars, about 700 strong about 1900 strong on paper. Most of the men are recruits. Every morning they trot out to Hounslow Heath, and there the raw recruits are taught the first lesson in horsemanship-how to catch your horse. The horses are turned loose and the men have to round them up." The recruits are said to take pleasure in the novel pro- ceeding, and throughout the system of training the men are displaying enthu- siasm.
 In the matter of shooting it is the commanders intention to turn out a night percentage of ''marksmen," or men who can make about seventy hits in hundred shots. With this view, officers and non-commissioned officers have been instructed to make them selves expert shots. so that they may be able to give the best personal in- struction to their men. A novel idea, which has been found to produce keen ness among the men. is to allow them to ride out from the barracks to the range by themselves, instead of taking them out in a troop and keeping them waiting for an hour or more on the ground before their turn for shooting arrives. Each man is thus induced to take an interest in his task, and to re- gard his firing exercise as good sport instead of rather tiresome duty.
 In order to enable every man to take his place in the dismounted firing line, instead of 75 per cent, as hitherto, a method of tying the horses in couples, head and tail, has been introduced. The efficiency of the cavalry for firing on foot is thus increased 25 per cent.
 Dispatch riding is being taught on the lines which the Boers found so valuable. Two men with a dozen horses are sent out to carry dispatches between Hounslow and Aldershot or some military centre. On the outward journey man is dropped every five miles, and thus chain of riders is es- tablished. On the home journey the dispatch is passed from man to man, available for each stage of the journey. Tn this way dispatches have been carried in a. much shorter space of time than would be possible if only one or two men were engaged. It was by this method of employing a chain of dis patch riders that the Boers succeeded in rapidly carrying information across wide stretches of country.-London Mail.