As a means of encouraging the men to exertion and good behaviour, their working pay was permitted to be increased, under the authority of the warrant before mentioned, from 6_d._ to 9_d._ or 1_s._ a-day. The non-commissioned officers invariably received the highest rate. None, however, could be advanced from the lowest to the superior rates without first being recommended to the commanding royal engineer at the station, by the junior officers, foremen, or overseers; and this system of rewards, except for special services, has been observed in the corps ever since. The sergeant-majors who received the first commissions had been in the artillery, and were distinguished for their good services and bravery. To their zeal and expertness as soldiers, they added an intimate knowledge of drill and discipline—requisites of essential importance in the organization of a new force, but which, from the vague and indefinite character of the corps, became, almost necessarily, too temporizing and elastic to be sufficiently beneficial or respected. Efforts had on one or two particular occasions been made to avoid the faults and supply the omissions of earlier years; but the improvement before alluded to, had not reached the expectations of those who felt an interest in the corps. One obvious reason was, the nominal appointment of officers to companies, who were so incessantly shifted, that it was not uncommon to find a company passing under the command of three or four different officers in the course of twelve months;[150] and another was, the reluctance with which some commanding officers permitted the temporary withdrawal of the men from the works for the purposes of drill and discipline.[151] The free use of the means to train the men to subordination and the use of arms, to restrain them from irregularities, and fully to develop the organization and purposes for which the corps was raised, being thus interrupted, naturally tended to vitiate and lower its military pride, spirit, and appearance. ----- Footnote 150: This may be regarded as a favourable view of the case. Sir John Jones states, “Each company was commanded for the moment by the senior Captain of engineers, who might happen to be placed on duty wherever the company might be; so that it was not unfrequent for a company to be commanded by five or six captains in as many months.”—Journal of Sieges, ii. note 38, p. 389, 2nd edit. Footnote 151: Pasley’s ‘Elementary Fortification,’ note a, p. iii. -----