There was no one to dress. The companies on the right had been dismissed (where to was not known), and as no order was received, each company in turn took upon itself to seek shelter, and thus commenced and ended a battalion drill of the 1st Wilts Rifle Volunteers at Wilton Park. Still it counted towards the required number. This was not learning battalion drill. There was no one in authority on the spot who could teach; moreover everything was against officers and non-commissioned officers willing and fairly able to instruct. The drill itself, subject to constant changes by circulars from the War Office, was patched, altered and amended until red books, were useless, and adjutants and sergeant instructors knew not what to teach; uniforms so varied in colours and cut, as to make a battalion, when equalized, appear ridiculous, and the whole drill hurried over and generally smashed up by corps having to leave in order to catch trains. The uniform was a matter that should have been arranged by the Lord Lieutenant, as was done after some delay, and no little correspondence between lieutenant-colonels, adjutants, captains of corps, and small authorities in which it was shown that each preferred his own colour to another's, considering such as exactly adapted for the battalion's adoption. The Marquis of Ailesbury, as Lord-Lieutenant, settled the matter by desiring the officers commanding both battalions of Wiltshire Volunteers (the 1st Administrative Battalion represented by the adjutant, and the 2nd Administrative Battalion by Lieut.-Colonel M.F. Ward) to meet him at the clothing depôt in London, and there after consultation with the officer in charge, dark green with black lace, similar to that worn by the Rifle Brigade, was decided upon. It was a wise decision, necessitating a general change, and an expense which would be shared in by all; and though extinguishing the supposed utility of the very lengthy and somewhat Noah's Ark cut of tunic, much approved of by the Salisburian, or the glittering loveliness of the grey and silver of the Wiltonian, or the light blue and white lace, with the wondrous solar topee, a rough ill-shaped pith or coarse felt helmet, of the Bradleyan, yet helped very much in one way or another to overcome the clannishness of corps, and to make the battalion look better on parade, but also to cause them to drill and work together better.