The Origin and Services of the 3rd (Montreal)

""""In 1888 Lieutenant-Colonel Montizambert was again the inspecting officer,and he had the following report to make :Lieutenant-Colonel Stevenson commanding. Inspectedon St. Helen sIsland on the 4th July. Found no falling off from its usual marked efficiency.Horses good, but rather too heavy a class. Guns, carriages, harness, clothing andequipment in first rate order. Marching past, field manoeuvres, gun drill, answersto questions and Gzowski competition all good and very creditable to all ranks.Their gun practice was performed at the Island of Orleans, near Quebec, under mysuperintendence on the loth September, when the high score of 394was made."Lieutenant-Colonel Irwin was the inspecting officer in 1890 and he reportedas follows :This Battery performedits annual drill in camp on St. Helen s Island andwas inspected by the Deputy Adjutant General and myself on the 13:!! August.The general state of efficiency was, as usual, very creditable to all concerned.The range-finding practice was subsequently performed at a range near Lachine,the Battery turning out voluntarily for the purpose. Lieutenant-Colonel Stevensoninforms me the range is a good and safe one, so that it will be possible to gothrough a similar practice next year during the annual drill.In his annual report in 1891, Major-General Herbert, then commanding theMilitia force, made his famous comparison of the different branches of the servicewhich was so flattering to the artillery force. The General said in part :The relative degree of efficiency of the three arms in the Active Militia is asfollows :Artillery, i ; Cavalry, 2 ; Infantry, 3.The superiority of the Artillery, and the marked inferiority of the Infantry,are traceable to the same cause, viz : the manner in which the duty of inspectionis carried out. In the Artillery, the system instituted by General Strange, whenInspector of Artillery, and still efficiently carried out, makes the inspection atonce a test of efficiency, a means of instruction and a source of emulation. Theinspection of the other arms has degenerated into a mere parade or review, whichis productive of no good result at all, but, on the contrary, frequently directs theefforts of commanding officers into a wrong channel. The encouragement of amost desirable."spirit of emulation in real efficiency, and not in mere show, isAs a matter of fact, the Battery has never undergone a poor inspection, andhas never been criticised as inefficient by an inspecting officer. On the contraryevery commanding officer the Canadian Militia has ever had, as well as the regularstaff inspecting officers have bestowed unstinted praise uponofficers and men fortheir efficiency and soldierly conduct.It is doubtful ifany other battery of field artillery in the armed forces of HerMajesty could make a similar claim.It must be remembered too, that few field batteries in the Royal Artillery canclaim such a long continuous career as the Montreal Field Batter}-. From 1819 to1846 there was no field artillery in Britain equipped, except seven troops of Royal79