ARMY REFORM.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12481, 22 April 1901, Page 6

ARMY REFORM.

ifttj I f ‘ * 1 — iL * t MB BRODRICK’S STATEMENT, »>. / ■ the army corps system. •>,- ' [From Oca Correspondent.] i■' ' LONDON, March 15. ■ ' ' -U,The very clear and .able statement) to '[ / i House of Commons last Friday night 1 ! by My Brodrick on army reform has, in | i> the nrain, met with approval, as an earnest to solve the problem of adequate ", If-defence. without recourse to consorip- ‘ tioa. The critics are •digesting the ■details 1 before venturing upon anything but gen-*-.i 'vral criticisms, but the impression seems •' , ’ to he that the Secretary of State for War ■■ . 4 s in entire accord with the Commanderin the scheme submitted to tho ■ na! ion. _ Tlie following is the pith of Mr Brod- > rick’s proposals. Apart from the wax", he ■ aubmitted estimates for tho year for twen- , ty-nine millions. . LESSONS OF THE WAR. .< r- The war has shown ns the following rei quirements: —Better organisation, the abi - - to send abroad at least three army -' corps with cavalry (120,000 men) while if;;, ’’maintaining a properly organised force for fty’Jipme defence, more and heavier artillery, ft-'' and more mounted troops; reformed me- - c. dical and transport services, less barrackY square ' drill, more scouting,; independence 5--. and individuality. j SIX ARMY CORPS DISTRICTS, is ’ The bedrock of the new system is the )*| • division of tho country into army corps ‘ 'idistricts. There are to be six districts, 1 ’ each of which will have its own army corps, whose headquarters will be respects , tdrely at Aldershot, Salisbury Plain, Ire,;L .land,' Colchester, York, and •Edinburgh. (• r iEacE corps will have \ts proper propor't\ htion of the various arms, its own stores, ’’ and its own transport, and will be under ; i.the commanders who are to lead it in war r*C j'tinie. There is to bo none of the ‘‘scratch r t - i'lteam ” ’ business that Las hitherto charac- .• yterised our warfare. The troops in each 5 ' j»nny. corps district are to be within reach ,!;■ ;iof each other, not actually adjoining, and 6 -'are to meet for xnancenvres. Responsibility gt, ’’to. be centralised, and administration ■»< -.tdecentra'lised. To the commanders of the .puny corps as to be delegated a very large £;->Wnount of the authority at present exer-, T eked in Pall Mall. ]■ , The first three army corps are to be y focqnpoeed entirely of regulars, and are indor foreign service or home defence ,-uy the first instance. The brigade of the ivjJ; i,Guards are in future not to act as part of E- khe 'garrison at Gibraltar, bub will form I I part of the first army corps at Aldershot. The last three army corps are on l the initiative of Lord Roberts t to include sixty i-K‘ aliens of volunteers and militia, -ca.retolly Selected and specially trained, and ‘ militia and volunteer ' ’field' artillery batteries. Officers are to be appointed to command in peace' only if certified fit to ? Y ftoid those commands in Avar, and in fu- ; Y inre appointments will be made, not for - ,«ve,; but for three years only, so that the may more speedily be weeded -;c. V GARRISON RESERVE, ’^':/,;'-Tho. members of the regulars are to be increased, not-; by recruiting, but by rail;!;. Jtearingb the regulars from garrison duty, ’,*f'Ajtfd forming a garrison reserve of eight [V;; Jbaltafions of men of more than fourteen, ] t •*nd i in some cases of more than twelve service, who are to be attracted by ] W pension of 6d a day from the time they 4ftave the garrison battalion up to the age sixty-five, and Is 6d a day thereafter, providing a man of good conduct with 1 jtfce . certainty of a field career. Five In- | fclian battalions will garrison certain fori'|lK9Bes in the Tropics, This will release ;’i;, twelve battalions for field service. Smaller ! j ieoaling. ’stations, such as Singapore, Coilombo, Bermuda, not attackable from land, : lalre, if the Admiralty, whieE is still cogi- /•] Jtiting, consents, to be taken over by the ■■■ .'Admiralty, thus releasing another five bat- , Jtalions, making eighteen in all available y *for home service. There will ba in the s : -s-yfuture seventy-nine battalions of the line ,'a.i home and seventy-seven abroad, allowtug twelve battalions permanently in w.’rt.fiouth Africa. ■ 1C THE MILITIA., ‘,t Y The militia, which-ought to be 150,000, ill only 100,000 strong. The men do not find the inducement sufficient to remain. /' ,*p>Hi old, constitutional force is to be raised to its full' complement of 150,000, by givf '■> lag the miliHa the 3d a day ration money , jpiven to the army, and also a total bounty l' r I £4 10s at different periods,; instead of, »' hitherto, £1 10s on leaving. The militia reserve for the army is to be abolished, t •nd' a militia reserve ,of 50,000 for 'borne defence created of militiamen who have t * done ten years’ service in the militia, and j . linesmen who have done fourteen years’ ; . j aervics with the line, colours and reserve, >; - *nd -who are to get 4d a day (£6 a year) \' ' to be liable to be called on for musietry training when necessary. THE IMPERIAL YEOMANRY. ■ The Imperial Yeomanry is to consist «f 35,000 mounted infantiy, in regiments ©f 500 each, the nucleus ot the lirgo body of mounted troops required for modem warfare. It is no longer to be drilled- as I cavalry, in shock tactics, but is to give up the swe-rd and be' armed with a shortened rifts and bayonet, and wear a kharki uniform. ’ It is to be trained for eighteen days, lourteen' obligatory. Privates will receive 5s a day, with rations and forages, officers cavalry army rates of 10s for rations and forage. Each yeoman who ; bring# his own horse will get £5 a year, *nd those who have none will get a loan of horses from the Government. “We trust,” said Mr Brodrick, “the iday is not far distant when, our .colonial ’brethren, who have given ns mounted assistance during this Avar, Avill be Avilling, 1 subject to the consent of their own Governments, to keej> on foot mounted contingents (surely it Avould be better to keep •them on horse), also under the title of Imperial Yeomanry, who, if occasion 'demanded, would be available to' join our own Yeomanry.” ’ THE VOLUNTEERS. ' xne Volunteers are to be made more efficient,'but- not increased in numbers. A camp will be formed of twenty-five battalions of specially-selected infantry for thirteen days, each man to haye a daily grant of 5s and each officer 11s 6d. , Each man who attends the camp must •■;«liav’'6 ,< alreadv.-dtine, six drills and Ins-mua-, . ketry, andT will get a thorough training in manoeuvring and reconnaissance. The fifteen batteries of field artillery which will form part-of an Army Corps will also re•ceive special training, and the Volunteers .will have’charge of forty batteries of 4.7 guns for the defence of London. The xe•mainder of the Volunteers will go into camp as usual, but under/more stringent conditions, the men getting 2s 6d and. irhe officers 8s a day. The Volunteer mounted infantry will become part of the Imperial Yeomanry. 'liventy drills will ba-required in the third year, instead of nine, .as heretofore. i : The net increase anticipated from these proposals is; Regular® . • . ' H,fiOO ‘ Muitia . . • • • 30)000 • Yeomanry . • • » • 25,000 Trained Volunteers • > • 40,000 Total 126.500 »t an 1 estimated cost of £2,000,000. The Army will thus number 680,000, made up as follows... Regulars ..... 155,000 Reserve i > • » . • 00,000 Militia ... . . . 150,000 ii Yeomanry . • • • . 35,000 Volunteers ~ . . » • 1250,000 €30,000 providing for the ii3i"EiolS;iArmys'\ ■• • 260,000 Garrison at home . . • 196,000 Volunteers and London, defences 100,000 ■■ .y‘ v ..; ' 4,000 , Surplus sick and recruits . 120,000 III#! W]’ ( • 630,000 wSU v 3'i ' ( i 1 . BBllfv..r , 1 i

ARTILLERY. Lord Roberts’s views are that the field artillery gun is, on the whole,. a good and effective weapon, but requires improvement in range power and rapidity of fire. The horse artillery gun needs improvementa in several respects, which a committee is pOAV considering. Fifty thousand pounds have been put on the Estimate.? to meet any immediate provision suggested. The Avar has brought to light the want of heavy guns, to be worked, not as guns of position, but as more deliberate and slcAvly-moving field guns. Two hundred of the 4.7 guns ha\ r o already been ordered, RIFLES. On this subject Lord Roberts says: “Our rides have stood the test of the campaign admirably as regards range, accuracy, mechanism, and solidity and thoroughness of manufacture. They Avould be still mere suitable for Army purposes if they Avere a little shorter and lighter, as they could then be used by cavalry as well as infantry. Those changes can be made without in- any way affecting the range , and accuracy. An experiment has been tried with an improved sight for a shortened and lightened rifle.” THE COMFORT OF THE SOLDIERS. Less sentry-go is’hoped for and fewer positions in musketry training, as the German manual exercise has only three positions to our ten. There is to be no increase of pay, as “no increase could be given ’ short of double that pay, which Avould really bring in a different stamp of men.” The experiment of cubicles and more comforts is to be tried in barracks. The full-dress of the Army, “ which is absolutely necessary for the attraction of recruits,” is to be left alone, but the Avorking dress is to be the fighting dress, so that when a regiment- is ordered abroad it has in its own possession the exact dress required, instead of havdng to be reequipped. OFFICERS. A committee is to examine into the Woolwich and Sandhurst training, which is not considered altogether satisfactory. A large number of commissions are to be put at Lord Kitchener’s disposal, to be allotted on the reports of the commanding officers. A larger sihai’e of professional spirit will be required from officers. No sumptuary Lavs such as restricting the cost of the mess, are to be enacted to reduce the enormous expenses to which officers are put, but influence is to be brought to bear arid Avhere it is found’that “young officers are unable to subsist because of the extravagance on the part of the corps, we may have to revise the arrangements as a whole.”; The ex-, pense of uniforms is ridiculous. “The cost to a second lieutenant entering the German army is £lB 12s 6d, in England the Government store price is £4B 12s, and at a tailor’s £B6. - '“I propose (said Mr Brodrick), to establish a system of getting good cutters and makers by which officers shall be able to get from the Government establishments uniforms at cost price. The difficulty about that is the same difficulty os besets us about expensive charges. In a ‘ smart ’ regiment I don’t think the Government tunic would be looked at. In the same way, a Government horse is never taken in some regiments. Excellent, arrangements have been made by which an officer, (bound to provide himself with a horse, is allowed to take one or two chargers by paying £lO a, year to the Government for each—a good bargain to the officer.” WAR OFFICE REFORM! War Office reform is to be deferred until the war has been- brought to a conclusion, the estimates prepared and the army reorganised. Great changes are necessary, and a committee has been asked to advise on them. The system is to be remodelled and a number of the positions are - to be filled by officers who have suffered in the war and been incapacitated from active service. Mr Brodrick mentioned as an example of the present dilatory and red-tape Avays of the War Office, the following case:—“Last November a paper came before me relating to a question whether a cottage should be shut up, pulled doAvn, or should have £l3O spent on for repairs. The paper I received was started in 1896, and it hadbeen touring about between three military officers from that time. The matter Avas still unsettled Avhen it came before me, but the comedy was that we fo-unu, after inquiry, thas the cottage had been shut up for three years by the orders of the local sanitary authorities.”