The Press. FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 1900. COLONIAL OFFICERS FOR THE BRITISH ARMY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10624, 6 April 1900, Page 4

The Press. FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 1900. COLONIAL OFFICERS FOR THE BRITISH ARMY.

The Marquis of Lansdowne in his speech on the proposed, additions to the British Army, to which we referred yesterday, mentioned that a large number of officers would be required, and he confessed: that the difficulty of officers" in the proper number and of the proper quality seemed to him to be one of the most serious, if not the most serious, with which they had to deal. They expected to draw on the reserve of officers, of whom there were 1700, and for t_§ rest they most depend upon the promotions in the higher rank, accompanied, of course, by a, very large number of officers of subab tern rank as well. With this object they intended to offer commissions so the militia and volunteers, to the Universities, and a small number of public schools. They also i_tended to offer commissions to the colo-nies—-in announcement received with cheers, j which were renewed when Lord Lanedowne remarked that from the colonies they bad already received many excelent officers.

It is it accordance with this proposal, no doubt, that New Zealand recently received the offer of thirty commissions to be giTen by the Governor after consulting with the Commander of the Forces. It ia understood that in awarding these preference will be given i_ the first instance to members of the Contingents oft active service—on arrangement which is only just and right. For some years Imperial commissions have been open to colotial candidates upon an examination conducted' by the New Zealand University, but for various reasons there has not been __y r*xj _&«_, competi-

tion for these. It is now evident, however, that as one of the results of tse< present war there will in future be both a strong ambition, on the part of veuns* colonials to gain her Majesty's commissions, and also a readiness on the part of the Home military authorities to accept their services. Probably the chief reason why New Zealanders have not offered themselves more freely for commissions in the past is that, speaking generally, it has been impossible for an officer on Home service to live on his pay. The number of colonial lads whose parents can afford to educate them for the Army, and to give them an allowance of £150 to £500 a year when they get their commission—which we are told is necessary "except under perfectly intolerable social conditions"—is r.ccessarilv very limited. This is a subject which has attracted some attention at Home, and we learn from Mr Wyodham's speech that a committee was appointed, with General French presiding, to enquire into the matter. There is a general feeling among the British public that the state of things referred to i£ a scandal which ought to be ended. It was popularly supposed that when the purchase jof commissions was abolished the Army would be as free and open to any of her Majesty's subjects as the Civil Service. It is evident that this is not the case. So long

as expensive "crammers" are necessary to give a lad a chance of winning in the examination, and his friends have to give him an allowance to supplement his pay, the Army is still very much in the nature of a close corporation. We have little doubt, however, that steps will now be taken to remove the financial disability referred to. In our opinion tlie military authorities trill also be welladvised if they remodel the system of competitive examination. We do not undervalue the necessity of officers being well-educated.

but the present system tends to give preference to mere bookworms, ignoring all other qualifications. The qualities of dash, readiness of resource, and above all capacity to lead, cannot bs tested by a literary examination. It is at least questionable whether the same course of study necessary to ensure success in the present competitive tests does not really tend to deprive a lad of the qualifications on wliich we should be disposed to lay the greatest stress. So far as the colonies are concerned, the examination in any case is hardly likely to prove so severe as in the Old Country } where there is such a rush of candidates. We notice that men from the Oxford and Cambridge Universities have been very successful. of late \u gaining admission to the Army. It may b© weil for our own Colleges to devote some attention to specially preparing candidates to qualify themselves for the commissions which will no doubt be now offered to ua in greater number than before.