full; not
an empty berth. A "land boom" was on at the time; there was plenty of
money about, and most of the passengers were well-to-do men taking their
families home to have a good time. Land booms I have heard described as
speculations in land, owing to which men with, say, a few hundred pounds
quickly become possessed of as many thousands (on paper, not in land).
Presently the boom cracks, the thousands disappear. I am sorry to say
that this actually happened later on to several of our passengers.

We arrived at Brindisi, and thence went overland to Calais; then Dover
and good old London. What a pleasure it was to get back to the old club,
stay at the old hotel, sit in the little balcony at Morley's, gaze at
Nelson's monument, and walk round the old haunts! After a few days' stay
in London I went home to Wardhouse.

I had undertaken only one official matter to inquire into during my
absence on leave. It was to report upon the method then in vogue for the
supply of warlike material to the colonies. This method was as follows.
An officer, at that time General Harding-Stewart, retired, was acting as
military adviser and inspector of warlike stores to the several colonies.
When any of the colonies ordered rifles, guns or other requirements, he
procured them in London, working on commission. No doubt he meant well,
but at the time I left Adelaide there were hardly two heavy guns alike in
any of the colonies. A climax had been reached when New South Wales
ordered two 10-inch muzzle-loaders similar to the two which South
Australia had mounted at Fort Glanville. The New South Wales guns were
supplied by the same firm. They arrived in Sydney and were mounted at
Middle Head Fort. I visited Sydney at the time they were being mounted,
and found that their calibre differed from the South Australian guns by a
fraction of an inch, so that the ammunition was not interchangeable. As a
matter of fact, there were but few guns of Imperial pattern in the whole
of Australia; we were armed mostly with experimental guns of private
firms.

As a result of my inquiries I came to the conclusion that it would be
more satisfactory if a senior officer on the active list of the Royal
Regiment of Artillery was appointed at a fixed salary for a term of
years, who would be instructed, at any rate in the case of heavy
ordnance, field guns and rifles, to supply none except of a pattern
passed into the Imperial Service itself. This recommendation was