The material of the Territorials sent out to the front was always good; often their training and equipment left something to be desired. At the outset of the war the progress of the Territorials from England to the firing-line was very gentle. The first Territorial battalions to come out were given a preliminary stage at a temporary camp established at General Headquarters, where they went through a further course of instruction at the hands of men fresh from the trenches, or, at any rate, in closest touch with the army in the field, and where any shortcomings in their equipment were rectified. As their training proceeded they were sent to the trenches in driblets, the officers going by couples to serve for some time with a battalion in the front line, the men going first by sections, then by platoons, then by double companies, until it was judged that the whole battalion was sufficiently experienced to take over by itself a section of the trenches, preferably in one of the quieter parts of the line. The famous Artists’ Rifles have played a unique rôle in this war. The battalion was originally intended to take its place in the line the same as the Regulars and the other Territorial troops out here. But their fine _esprit de corps_, together with the high standard of intelligence and the good social standing of their men, pointed to this distinguished battalion as an ideal Officers’ Training Corps in the field. The experiment was tried. The battalion, as a homogeneous unit, was not sent to the front line, but retained in the rear, and used for furnishing sentries and doing other duties, while likely candidates were selected from the ranks and sent to a Cadet School to be trained for commissions. At the Cadet School, which, from very modest beginnings, has now developed into a large and flourishing institution--a veritable Sandhurst in Flanders--they are given a thoroughly practical course of instruction, which includes trench modelling in clay and weekly visits of forty-eight hours’ duration to the trenches. So successful has the experiment proved that the Commander-in-Chief is said to have stated that the Artists’ Rifles have been worth a Division to him. Altogether the Artists have supplied more than a thousand officers to the army in the field--a truly magnificent achievement.