It will be obvious that unless the gun can be depended upon to open fire with certainty and accuracy, and maintain it continuously without jamming or mechanical failure, it is useless to consider its tactical employment. The mechanism of the Maxim is somewhat complicated and delicate, and depends for its proper working upon the exact adjustment of each part; but no more so than any other piece of modern machinery--it is far less complicated and certainly far less delicate than the modern motor-car. Indeed, the comparison is analogous in several respects, as both require highly trained operators to ensure their smooth and continuous working, and each individual machine, whether gun or motor, has its own peculiarities and requires special study to obtain the best results. Both are capable of hard and constant employment for long periods, without breakdown or failure, in the hands of an expert. No one would think for one moment of engaging a chauffeur for a high-class motor-car who had less than six months’ training and experience, and who was not capable of stripping and adjusting the motors and effecting minor repairs. It would be difficult to find a machine-gun detachment with a single man who possessed even these minimum qualifications. Apart from the mechanical knowledge it must be remembered that the man who fires the gun, known as No. I. in our service, has in his own hands the fire from 50 rifles, and on his own judgment and skill as a shot will entirely depend the effectiveness or otherwise of this fire; it stands to reason therefore that he should be chosen primarily for his good shooting, but, in addition to his skill in aiming, he must be a good judge of distance and possess considerable intelligence, initiative, and self-reliance; for although he will usually receive orders as to target, range, rate of fire, and the moment for opening or ceasing fire, it will often happen that he has to use his own judgment in these very important matters. As the gun is generally required to move and come into action independently of other troops, it must find its own scouts, who not only have to safeguard it from surprise when moving, but must be trained to select good positions whence it can come into action. For this reason the men of the detachment must be trained scouts. To summarise: (1) Only marksmen should be chosen. (2) Trained scouts should be given the preference. (3) The whole detachment must be trained as range-finders and scouts. (4) The whole detachment must be proficient in judging distance. (5) Only strong men should be selected. The strength of a machine-gun detachment is given in Chapter IX. With the tripod mountings and pack transport the best _working_ strength for a machine-gun section will be found to be the following:--