THE KING'S COLONIALS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 128, 22 July 1911, Page 3

THE KING'S COLONIALS.

Several years ago a regiment was formed in England composed entirely of men from the oversea Dominions. The thought that prompted it was a most happy one and the scheme was immediately successful. The King's Colonial:; are now a _, .h •!ni inreo a tic a most popular oar. The mere thought that the units come from ail parts of the Empire to form a permanent force in England is sufficient to excite the public imagination. On ceremonial occasions they play an important part. In the Army List they alone are designated “Imperial Service,” implying that they are available for service abroad in case of “national emergency.” They have no difficulty in recruiting. A few years ago, the King’s Colonials became officially King Edward’s Horse, and at that time proposals were put forward to bring the . regiment under tiie notice of the Dominion Governments. Members of the Colonial Conference wore induced to interest themselves in these proposals, hut nothing tangible lias yet resulted. Not that King Edward’s Horse hick individual support in the Dominions; Lord Strathcona made them some time ago the handsome gift of £lO,000. But where the English Army Council have given them every possible advantage in the way of official recognition, the Dominions have kept all proposals “under consideration.” “It would lie a simple step,” says a writer in the “Westminster Gazette,” “to make it possible for a man cofhing from Canada or Australia and joining the force to complete,here the training that his departure may have interrupted, instead ■of having to resume it when he, returns after some years, to commence his business or professional career. It should be possible ,too, for a trooper in an allied regiment in one Dominion to find himself automatically transferred to a similar regiment in any other Dominion to which lie goes.” The Army Council have lately permitted the issue of pay and allowance to Territorials who have been obliged to return to their distant homes in the Dominions and have arranged to complete their qualifying training there. Since many of the men are Rhodes scholars, and the greater majority are on a long visit, this saves the regiment a great deal of pioney, Apparently, however, the cifoi;t to make the old King’s Colonals an Imperial Force of value, by attracting, the favourable notice of another Imperial Conference met with no success.