NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10033, 21 January 1896, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Ik these days when nations are making ready for war and when armies and navies are being made as strong and as perfect) at possible, tho general annual return of the British Army which has jusb been published will be mare interesting than usual. From this document ib appears that tlio >$ver»gj strength of all arms of the regular nrmj during the year is given as 219,121, ol which 136,663' were infantry of tho line, 18,265 cavalry of'the line, and 37, JOS Royal Artillery. Tho officers numbered 7679, the warrant officers 883, and the men 210,559. The total increase in the ranks of noncommissioned officers and men during the year was 36,657, and the decrease 33,965 — of which 1792 were deaths; showing a not increase of 2692. Tho number of effectives on the Ist of January last was 213,555. 1 The numbed of men reported as discharged during 1894 was 10,480, while the pensions granted numbered 1319 permanent and 1184 temporary, One interesting table of the return is that dealing with the desertions. It appears that some 3958 men deserted, but that 1833 rejoined, which shows .i net loss to the service from this cause'of ono per cent, The number of men transferred from the regular army to tha'first-class army reservo was 16,229. The section of tho return dealing with the reserves shows that the army reserve numbered 82,947, the militia 121,667 the yeomanry 10,014, and the volunteers 231,325—a grand total of 445,956, exclusirj of 31,313 militia reserve., Tho United States now has an army of 107,000 privates, 9500 commissioned officers, 20,000 non« commissioned officors, and 9,582,000 men available for military duty.

The strain of naval rivalry with Great Britain is evidently proving too much for Franco, and, as far as the latter nation is concerned, appears to be fast approaching breaking point. In his reporb of the ranch Navy Estimates, made public in December last, M. Pelletan advocates a reduction from 278 millions of francs to 26a millions. He urges that in 1889 the Triple Alliance expended on its navies 224 millions, against a French outlay of 200 millions, whereas the Triple Alliance now spends 222 millions, and France is asked tJ sjJend 278 millions. British expenditure, moreover, has only increased in six years by 58 .millions, or 16 per cent., whil French has increased by 70 millions, or 35 per cent. Groat Britain employ. 50,000 men on board her fleet, and 48.00 C men ashore, while France has only 27,000 men on board but 49,000 ashore. M. l'elletan questions whether France is bound to spend on lior navy as much as three greatContinental Powors put together. lit advocates a reduction of the land staff, anil argues that five dockyards are nob necessary, seeing that England has only three ( as also have Italy and Russia, while Germany has but two. Ho condemns the system of shipbuilding programmes occupying sevoral years, insisting that ib is better to undertake a few vessels and build them rapidly than to begin many and take years to complete thorn. ■'

Probably 0118 of the first results of tin federation of tho colonies would bo ths union of the various defence forces of Australia under the command of a general officer. At present (writes tho Melbourne Age) there is no cohesion between tin various military organisations, and in the event of a common enemy having to be faced no authority exists for the massing of troops at any particular point. During tin tituo General Tulloch was in command oi the Victorian forces a conference of mili' tary commandants took place in Sydney ( and a scheme was drawn up for tho mobilisation of an Australian army corps in time of war. Ib is proposed now to hold another conference to discuss the question of the adoption of the Magazine rifle by Australian infantry regiments. Wow South Wales, it appear!?, under tho advico of General Huston, contemplates re-arming her troops, and a desire has been expressed that similar steps should be taken by the other colonies, so a? to have a uniform arm in use. Sir Charles Roiled Smith will, no doubt, represent Victoria at the conference, bub in the present state of the financei Victoria is not likely to go to the expend of providing new rifles for the defence forct for some time to time. The .Martinirifle has proved itself capablo of quick and straight fire sufficient' for our practical requirements, and nb there is a large stock of these rifles in the colony, the launching into the expense, o{ a n^\v'. weapon would -nob be justified. The Lee-Metford rifle, jvhjoh is the iie\v English arm, has roof' v §]!?!? 8 shooting powers, but ib .has •If some features detrimental to success m > military weapon,' arid it lias yet to bo tested in actual warfare.- 1 ' v „ '

The V latest development -regarding tw Trarisvaiii difficulty' is the production of SP.WWI®: (roro', the Orango Free St»"

.VofesVin?''to give details connected with L supposed conspiracy on tho part) of Dr. Leson and others. These documents are 2,1 to point to the fact that the plot in.jaded arising among the natives. Further particulars as to the contents of these papers ff ill be awaited with considerable interest. The German Emperor has granted an extensive amnesty to prisoners in connection with the celebration of the anniversary of the foundation of the Empire. As appears to be hi. custom upon such occasions, Emperor William in )11S speech to his generals treated his audience to a little sensationalism m the farm of a peroration, in which ho waved a itandard and his sword, calling upon his igarers to defend the empire against all foes. The settlement of the dispute between England and France regarding their respective territories bordering 011 the Mekong River, may safely be regarded as, at least in some respects, in the interests of (••reat Britain, in view of tho fact that the French Colonials are said to be dissatisfied with tho terms of the agreement. News of another appalling massacre comes from unhappy Armenia. A hundred of these poor people, after having been wounded were thrown into a well, drenched with petroleum, and then burned to death. The Queen may well warn tho Sultan that he is endangering his throne, for it is difficult to believo that the Powers can tolerate such shockingly inhuman atrocities much longer. A partial settlement has been arrived at in tho British shipbuilding strike, which ha? been disorganising this trade for several months, besides driving many orders to foreign countries. The Clyde strikers have accepted an increase of a shilling a week, bui the Belfast men still hold out.