CITIZEN SOLDIERS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 59, 16 April 1914, Page 3

CITIZEN SOLDIERS.

A table has been compiled by the Adjutant-General of the Commonwealth' Forces, showing the proposed peace establishment of the militia force in 1914-15. A marked feature of this table is that it shows that in two years the army of citizen soldiers has fallen short of Lord Kitchener's estimate by 1500 men. The 1894 and 1895 quotas were estimated by Lord Kitchener to have numbered 34,220 men, whereas the figures show that actually there are only 32,667 soldiers who, besides their cadet training, will have had two years' service in the militia force. The 1893 quota, the latest quota of senior cadets to move up to the militia forces, which they will do in July next, is shown as 15,760, but against this increase there is a loss for the Commonwealth of more than 10,000 of the old militia, whose term of enlistment has expired. It is calculated that there will be on July 1 only 8697 of the old militia left in the army, and that 4000 of these will disappear during the coming military year. A great; proportion of the men arenoncommissioned officers, and the remainder are Light Horse men. This makes a total army of 60,287 officers, non-commissioned officers, and men. With the present rate of loss it is estimated that the army, ■ which under Lord Kitchener's scheme was to have numbered 80,000, will consist of only 75,000 trained soldiers.