FRIDAY'S APRIL 3,1908. ENGLAND'S NEW ARMY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 81, 3 April 1908, Page 4

FRIDAY'S APRIL 3,1908. ENGLAND'S NEW ARMY.

After long delays and the expenditure of much fervid rhetoric in the House of Commons and in the columns of the public .Press, Mr. Haldane_ army scheme has materialised at last. All such projects must, of course, be tested by practical experience, and so it is likely that •England and the Empire will never know the value of Mr. Haldane's "new model" till our next great war—when, as his critics have cynically observed, it may be too late. But whatever be the outcome of his experiment, no one can deny that it has been carefully prepared, and that Mr. Haldane has had the benefit of a vast amount of outspoken criticism. The successive failures of Mr. Brodrick and Mr. Arnold Forster to solve the problem of military defence have at least helped Mr. Haldane to see what mistakes he must avoid, and it seems likely that, taking into account the determination of the Liberals to cut down expenditure on defence, and allowing for the impracticability of introducing any scheme of conscription or compulsory - service into England just now, Mr. Haldane has done all that could be expected with the material and the money at his disposal.

It is difficult to give a clear and comj prehensive description of Mr. Haldane's | army scheme without going into detail to a wearisome length. However, we j may say, briefly, that the new army will I consist of tvtp main sections—the ReguArmy from which is organised the j Expeditionary force with its special contingent of reserves, and the Territorial Army; created chiefly out of the Imperial Yeomanry and the Volunteers. Originally it was intended to include the Militia in the territorial forces, but at Mr. Balfour's suggestion they were transferred to the Special Contingent of the Army Reserve, which is to supplement and reinforce the Expeditionary battalions when on active service. The Expeditionary force will consist of about 160,000 men, including 78,000 infantry, 78 batteries of artillery with 30,000 men, and over 10,000 cavalry. The object j of such a force is clearly indicated by its name; but to avoid waste of time in mobilisation a section of this division is to be organised as a Striking Force and kept in- readiness for despatch at the | short-_st possible notice. _

The second line of defence is the territorial Army, which embodies the Volunteers and the ImperiaO Yeomanry. Mr. Haldane has attempted to reconstruct these forces entirely so as to —ring them -»'£■- '£» £be standard (k modem naEtary -Sawt WfycMria_ S» _*s d->-

termined to equip his Territorial Army with an adequate supply of up-to-date artillery. But the most. important feature of the-seheme; .so-far as thi3 division of the army is concerned, is the comriritital of its organisation to the Lord lieutenants of the counties and various local authorities associated with them. | The obvious purpose of this arrangement I'is to arouse among wealthy and influenj tial people that interest in military 'training and national defence which they have hitherto failed: to secure. Fomiany /years the " amateur" forces—Volunteers and Yeomanry—have been languishing and losing status. Mr. Arnold-Forster, in his'scheme- of army reform, treated them even more unceremoniously than Mr. Haldane; and it is to-be hoped that the new system will not only rescue them from public neglect, and defend them against professional prejudice, but will eventually render them efficient auxiliaries to the regular army, if ever their assistance should be needed. It must, he at once conceded to Mr. Haldane that on paper his scheme is a great improvement on any of its predecessors.' It is more systematic and 1 more comprehensive, and so long as it will ensure the existence of an army large enough to defend our interests abroad, and secure our safety at home, there is little fault to He found with it. But we need hardly say that its success in these directions is highly problematical. The experts, who have criticised the "new model," adversely point out that the Expeditionary Force, which will form the first line of the army, is altogether inadequate to support our responsibilities, not only as regards the long frontiers of our world-wide Empire, but as regards our obligations to friend's and allies, such as France and Japan. It is wolf, known that Japan is far from satisfied with England's attempt to fulfil her promise of reorganising her army; and the weakness of England's striking force is an argument which Germany has recently used with success to intimidate France. But an even more serious question is the possibility of bringing the Territorial Army up to the requisite pitch of numerical strength and efficiency, so as to enable it to play an effective part in defending England's shores against invasion. The danger of a sudden foreign attack" is now generally admitted as a contingency against which precautions must be taken; and it is more than doubtful whether the Territorial Army as now proposed could ever rise to such an emergency with any prospect of success. Lord Roberts and many other eminent military experts hold that the amount of training that the territorial forces will receive would never enable them to meet foreign armies on anything like equal terms; and most of Mr. Haldane's opponents insist that his scheme would never attract to the ranks anything like the number of men required to form an army strong enough to resist a well planned attack, secretly conceived and suddenly delivered. Time alone can show how far these apprehensions are well founded. But Mr. Haldane can at least fairly claim that he has exhausted all the possibilities of the voluntary system, and that if his scheme fails, the only alternative is some form of compulsory military service for the whole nation.