Although mechanical transport was employed during the South African war, the experiences then gained must not be applied with too much rigidity to the conditions of the conflict taking place in Europe. In South Africa, a considerable number of traction engines were put into service, while steam motor lorries were also used. Colonel R. E. Crompton, C.B., who was in charge of the British transport columns, has described how “De Wet, knowing the country, destroyed bridge after bridge until the roads and the railways were only islands, disconnected by things called ‘deviations’--horrible places, full of dead animals, horse transport, animal transport of all kinds, which had died there, simply because there was practically no road.... The fact that we were able, even though we had broken engines, to repair them from our spares, so that the dead engines became live engines, so impressed Lord Roberts that he felt that we were at the birth of real, practical mechanical military transport with all the advantages it gives.” There can be no doubt that the experience obtained during the South African war pointed directly to the use in the first case of steam tractors, and later--when they could be sufficiently perfected--of internal combustion tractors with a bigger radius of action. These conclusions resulted not only from the inherent conditions of military service, but also from the local conditions of the country in which this particular war took place. Reviewing the possibilities of South Africa in times of peace, Mr. W. W. Hoy, the General Manager of the Government Railways and Harbours, while approving of the use of light passenger and goods vehicles up to 2 or 3 tons capacity, lays stress on the desirability of the light paraffin tractor for easy services on good roads, and the heavy paraffin tractor for cross-country work with trains of trailers each carrying from 12 to 25 tons of goods. If we admit that a country in which these represent the main normal requirement cannot be safely taken as indicating accurately even the war requirements of other countries, we are reduced for practical experience to the Italian campaign in Tripoli and the recent wars in the Balkans. Italy is one of those countries in which commercial motor transport has not, owing to unfavourable local conditions, made any great progress. As a result the war was begun without any provision having been made in this direction, and the authorities were at first very sceptical as regards the desirability of employing motors at all in connection with the operations of the army. After much discussion, two light lorries, fitted with twin pneumatic tyres on the back wheels, were sent out on trial. These served very rapidly to convince the staff officers of the superiority of the system over horse transport. Consequently, thirty more light Fiat lorries were sent out as promptly as possible, and these were followed by larger consignments, bringing the whole fleet in