ARMY ESTIMATES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 449, 6 March 1909, Page 5

ARMY ESTIMATES.

BETTER RECRUITING. NEW PLANS FOR HOME DEFENCE. TERRITORIALS, 210,000. (BI TEIiEOItiPn—riIESS ASSOCIATION—COfTEIaHT.) (Roe. March 5, 11.40 p.m.) London, March 5. Tho Secretary for War, Mr. Haldano, in introducing tho Army Estimates in the Houso of Commons, made a long speech dealing in detail with the working of his reorganisation scheme. He stated that recruiting during the year had been singularly good. ! Doaling with the Special Reserve—(a force liable undor Ihe Bchemo to foreign service, of a nominal strength of 80,000, recruited from the old Militia) —Mr. Haldano said this forco now numbered 70,000, equal to the old Militia. The Minister paid a generous tribute to the "Daily Mail"—(which has appealed very loudly for recruits and support) , —and to employers of labour in connection with viio Territorial Forco. Bulwark Against Conscription. This reference aroused violent expressions of disapprobation from tho Labour benohes, to which Mr. Haldane rotorted that, owing to tho breakdown of the auxiliary forces, tho nation had never been nearer conscription than it was before the recent movement, which had established a stronger bulwark against conscription than had ever existed bofore. Referring further to the Territorial Force —(a force organised from the Volunteers and Yomanry, to have a total strength of 312,000, not liable to foreign service) —Mr. Haldane stated that 33,000 recruits had been added during th 6 last seven weeks, and tho total enrolment was now 240,000. Common Pattern for Empire Armies. The root idea of his General Staff and Imperial organisation proposals was that, whore possible, tho oversea Dominions should work on a similar pattern of organisation to that of Great Britain, thus affording the possibility of co-operation in caso of great necessity. Tho last thing the Government would dream of would be to even suggest to the oversea Dominions what they should do. The staff colleges had been enlarged, and it was now possible to receive any overseas officers. Mr. Haldano added that General Sir Wm. G. Nicholson (Chief of tho General Staff and rirst Military Member of the Army Council) had completed plans for homo defence which would ,make a successful invasion of Britain even less likely than had been the case in tho past. Sir Chas. Dilko (Liberal momber for the Forest of Dean, and a military writer) criticised the Germanic trend of Mr. Haldano's mind. A Unionist Critic Mr. Arnold-Forstor (a former Unionist Secretary for War) ridiculed tho system of training for the Special Reserve. Ho said that Mr. Haldane dealt more with names than with things. He commoated on tho fact that there had been a reduction of 100,000 men, yet tho smaller army cost moro than it did in tho pre-reform days. Tho reduction of £24,000 in the cost was nominal. Thero was really an increase of £275,000, as £300,000 bad been transferred to tho Indian account.