TERRITORIAL ARMY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13767, 4 June 1908, Page 5

TERRITORIAL ARMY.

DISAPPOINTING - ENLISTMENT

By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright.

London, June 2. In the House of Lords Lord Lucas, Under-Secretary of the War Office, in reply to Lord Raglan, said that the number of men required to complete the Territorial Army was 93,790. * .

Volunteers have not taken kindly to the new territorial army scheme, and a cable lost month stated* that, instead of 5 per cent, of the volunteers and GO per cent, of the Imperial Yeomanry enlisting as anticipated, only 30 per cent, of the men in these branches had enlisted in the new organisation. t 'the regulations ate regarded as being altogether too drastic, and one of the most galling points is the form of attestation— which, according to promises made, was to be'revised. Says the Scotsman of a recent date:— "The new army forms for the attestation of recruits for the territorial army are drawn with all the inept rigidity of the old and condemned War Office methods. The Army Act is applied to the territorial force in certain particulars which are unnecessary and galling. It is no longer a case of enrolment, but of enlistment. The volunteer is called upon to answer a great number of questions, which suggest the investigations of an insurance company anxious to preserve itself against fraud, rather than of a War Department calling for the voluntary services of citizen soldiers. The place of birth, the wife's maiden name, the name of the man presiding at the marriage, the number of children, .and other superfluous particulars are,,required of candidates for the honour of" wearing the King's uniform in the territorial army, and much more besides. It is easy to understand how the application of the strict terms of the Army Act to the new territorial army is resented. Not only is the citizen soldier required to disclose his personal and family history, lie is threatened, in the event of concealment, or false answer, with the pains and penalties of the law in the form of imprisonment with hard labour."