THE ARMY ESTIMATES.

Evening Post, Volume LXIX, Issue 118, 20 May 1905, Page 9

THE ARMY ESTIMATES.

(in lue.sday, in n somewhat aputhotic llouiw, Mr. Arnold-l'oi.ster made his juinual statcMiienl preparatory to the Committee of Supply on the Army Kstimalcs. 110 dealt chiefly with gonera'dtii's, expidining why reforms took (imo to accomplish, how it was difficult lo effect largo economies, and what was the natural function of ii Riitish Army. "We. must limit our army which i.s kept on v war footing in pe.ice time to the needs of our own peace requirements. We must have something in addition to that army ■which will enable us W> expand with great rapidity and certainty in order to till tho much larger demands of war, when war comet*." Kconomy could only be achieved by cutting down either the fine, the militia, or th» volunteers. Tlio first, could not. be seriously decreased, though the new slwrt-aervioo and long-service enlistments would do something; tho .second, in deference to public sentiment, would bo left alone for another year; tho third would be reduced to increase its etliciency. His views wero the view* of nine out of ton volunteer officers, and followed directly from the accepted theory of tho defensive duties of the navy. Mr. Arnold-Fonder ignores tlio value of the volunteers as a reservoir in other emergencies than inva< won, whicli. a.«* we have always insisted, is one. of their chief functions, and. indeed, the wlio-!o speech wa«, .singularly loopo and uninstructivo. It was also curiously individualistic. "1 cannot pledge the future for nny onu nxcepl niysolf." Sir Henry Ciimpbcll-Hamiermati w.i'a justified in asking whether Mr. Arnold-Fovsler's views were shared by his colleagues in tho Government.