BRITAIN’S MILITARY NEEDS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 62, 27 October 1911, Page 2

BRITAIN’S MILITARY NEEDS.

Speaking in reply to Lord Roberts in the House of Lords in April last, Lord Haldane said there were many defects in the Territorial Force because they had not got their numbers. The reason was that they had enjoyed a ten years’ peace. As soon as war threatened up would go the numbers. At present they had livesixths—272,ooo men—out of the establishment. That was something. They could create within three years an army of fourteen divisions complete in all its accessories. Expert testimony from. many quarters went to show that as a Force the Territorial Army was steadily improving. He mentioned this ( not for the purpose of taking an optimistic view. Heaven only knew he had been optimistic enough in trying to raise this force throughout the country. He was not there to be optimistic, but to give the hard facts. There was an enormous work still to be done, but he was not hopeless, like Iris noble friend, of making anything put of the voluntary system. If he were he should feel himself in a position of great difficulty, because it was necessary to have an adequate garrison in India and other places overseas, and his belief was that could not be accomplished if they had a system of compulsory service even for home defence. Sir lan Hamilton had studied the Continental system, and he agreed with that officer that they could not raise a voluntary and compulsory army out of the same material at the same time and get the enormous stream of volunteers required for the necessities of our Empire to have the greatest army for overseas service; that the world had ever seen—the greatest and, he believed, the most efficient. It was not the case that Ids original idea was to raise 900.000. What he said was that in the case of sudden invasion wo should in great stress of war lie able to raise 700,000, 'BOO,OOO, or 900,000. He was never sanguine enough to imagine that under a peace basis and under a voluntary system we could get 900,000 men. What he believed was that we dare not try for this country organisation on the basis of Continental armies. He did not think the quality of the men could bo nearly so good as in our smaller exoeditionary force, and we should imperil the ‘safety of India, which was the greatest military necessity. With reference to South Africa, he believed wo performed a wonderful feat under the leadership of Lord Roberts with a quarter of a million men. Not one Power on the Continent had the organisation to send overseas that number of men, and we could only sass. such an organisation on the voluntary system.