hould be given three British officers to assist him in carrying out
his difficult and troublesome duty; and at the same time I pointed
out that it was absolutely essential to construct at an early date a
serviceable road between Kashmir and Gilgit, as the sole approach to
that strategic position was not only difficult, but very dangerous.

All these proposals commended themselves to, and were acted upon by,
the Viceroy.

Lieutenant-Colonel Neville Chamberlain--a _persona grata_ to the
Kashmir authorities--was appointed Military Secretary to the Kashmir
State, and by his ability, tact, and happy way of dealing with
Natives, quickly overcame all obstacles. The Maharaja and his two
brothers, Rajas Ram Sing and Amar Sing, entered heartily into the
scheme; the army was remodelled and rendered fit for service; and an
excellent road was made to Gilgit.

During the summer of 1889 I was able to introduce several much needed
reforms in the annual course of musketry for the Native Army.
The necessity for these reforms had not been overlooked by my
distinguished predecessors, nor by the able officers who served under
them in the Musketry Department, but it had not been possible to do
much with a system which dated from a period when fire discipline was
not thought of, and when the whole object of the course was to make
soldiers individually good shots. After the Delhi Camp of Exercise
in 1885-86, when the want of fire control was almost the only point
unfavourably criticized by the foreign officers, the Army in India
made a great advance in this important branch of musketry training;
nevertheless, I felt that further progress was possible, and that the
course of instruction was not altogether as practical as it might be.
I therefore gave over the work of improvement in this respect to
an enthusiast in the matter of rifle-shooting and an officer of
exceptional energy and intelligence, Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Hamilton,
and directed him, as Assistant Adjutant-General of Musketry, to
arrange a course of instruction, in which the conditions should
resemble as nearly as possible those of field service, and in which
fire discipline should be developed to the utmost extent. He was most
successful in carrying out my wishes, and the results from the first
year's trial of the new system were infinitely better than even I had
anticipated.

Simultaneously with the improvement in musketry, a great advance was
made in gunnery. Artillery, like