NOTES ON THE WAR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11659, 16 February 1900, Page 5

NOTES ON THE WAR.

By Major Ki-.n-kldy.

The offer made by. Canada to release the First - Battalion of the Leinster Regiment (lOOtlv foot) from garrison duty at H:ilifai ; Nova Scotia, and to garrison the fortifications with Canadian militia, will" give about 900 additional troops, for. service in South' Africa.. 'Die second battalion of thisregiment (the 109 th Foot) is stationed at Barbadnes, The withdrawal of the Leinsters would leave Canada without a single1 battalion of British •. infantry;1 an event.that, is worthy of note, as it is the first time it has happened since the country became a British possession. There will be left in Canada three companies of the Royal Garrisioh Artillery, two companies of the Royal Engineers. Two companies, of the , artillery and two of Engineers ' are at Halifax, and one company of the artillery at Esquimault, British Columbia.

; The : withdrawal of the British forces from the vicinity ot Colesborg towards Rendsburg is ■ probably ■ caused by the despatch pi the cavalry of General French's division to the Modeler; in'faet, 'I."expect the advanced portions of this division to fall back until they are in touch with the sixth division (General Kelly-Kenny's), as, being weakened by the despatch of the cavalry, the division is in no condition to occupy; an advanced outpost. The number of offers of recruits for the army-since Christmas is very gratifying, I; hope, the supply will continue to be as good, as it speaks well for the 'patriotism of the young man of the United Kingdom. It will be' some months before the army is recruited up to the strength allowed by law, even if recruits keep on , coining, in at the- same rate. . .. - '..

It Trill..he /noticed that the' Right. Hon. the Secretary of War stated on the 13th inst. that there were 109,000 regular troops still in the United Kingdom. ■Thesp figures are somewhat less than' my. estimate iis given on the 14th inst., as'i then gave the total number abroad "at 195,000 men, and estimated the number at home, at 129,000 men, or a grand total of 323,000 men, but in making this estimate I placed the regular army at 250,000 men. . Taking the statement of. the War Secretary,, however, it ; would mean that .the' actual strength of the regulars would be 239,000, men, or 11,000.less than'my estimate; or, if the militia reserve is added! to the official . estimate, I would then be sonip, 21,000 .below the actual strength. Tile War Secretary, makes .thfi. total strength 239,000 men, exclusive of the .army and militia reserves. If both of these are added the official figures make the three forces1, combined 19,000 in excess of my estimate. But my estimate of 270,000 volunteers and 66,000 militia exceeds by 8000 the official returns of 328,000 for tile "auxiliary forces. This shows thai I under-estimated the total forces for offensive and defensive purposes by 11,000 men. In : the official figures quoted, however,' it will be noted that no nllcrwimcc is made for the medically unfit or for soldiers that are too young for service; whereas' my estimate allowed 30,000 men to be classed us such. The. effectiveness of the proposed two additional army corps must 1)3 largely judged ; from the standpoint of rapidity of mobilisation., It is absolutely necessary in these days to be able to strike quickly. During the late Avar between Greece and Turkey tlu: Turkish army surprised Europe by the rapidity of its mobilisation, and its success may.be traced directly to -that feature of its organisation. It is only necessary to point but that it took 10 days after war ■ was ■ de-

clared before the first.division of General Buller's army corps was ready to embrvrk for the Cape, and fully 30 days before the three full divisinns embarked, although we had been assured that two complete army corps were always ready for active service whenever requi. i\. Now, if such delay is necessary with our army corps, that are supposed to be on a war footing, how much ilonger will it take to get- a corps ready that is only on the peace establishment? It matters little how many army corps we have on paper as a peace establishment if we have no transport waggons and animals to set in motion troops enough to hold the enemy in check until we can mobilise our reserve forces, and our reserves must ht placed in such a state of efficiency to enable them to be fully equipped with all the necessary arms, munitions, stores, and transports, to, take the field inside of seven days from the call to arms. It wns all right in the fifties of the nineteenth century to take months to fit an army for the field, but in these days hours count for snore than months did under the old-time system in vogue in the former great wars, in which the British nation established itself as the foremost Power of the world. The call for more troops at the Cape is again heard, The correspondent at Capetown of the Thunderer recommends that 75,000 additional men bo despatched. Bhime the critics- if you will, but while you try to discredit the critics,, show to the people if yon, can : thafc their criticism has not been justified. . . :