TERRORS OR TERRIERS?

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13598, 19 May 1908, Page 6

TERRORS OR TERRIERS?

NEW CITIZEN ARMY. Popular opinion at Home is unanimous that the new force, which has come Into existence, will have to bear some other name, than that which official authority liars selected for it. It may reasonably be argued that"" Territorial " is not verymuch longer than "Volunteer," but it is just, the little, that makes all the difference. Besides, the Volunteer force came into being in more leisured times; people were not then so intent upon saving their breath. And it is certain that a generation which has evolved " bike" and "tube" will not be satisfied with " Tei'ritorial" to denote somebody to whom constant reference must be made in everyday life. There seem to bf three probable solutions of the problem which offers, though it is quite possible that if the quite right word should be found before it is too late it may supplant these three. First there is " Terror," which has just that touch of exaggeration about it which commends itself to the man in the street, and if employed in the right .spirit has the advantage, of being more complimentary than nicknames usually are. ''Terrier," too, is not without its good points, especially if "bull" be understood. It would be at once a description of what we hope the Territorials may be, and would maintain the tradition which the British fighting man has earned all over the world. The word besides has the .sanction of usage by Mr Haldane. And there is "Torral," which, has neither description nor meaning, and may, for that, very reason perhaps, ' be adopted. The Volunteers themselves are living in a state of animated expectancy of what they will be called this time next year, and those with whom a "Daily Chronicle " representative conversed rather thought that "Terrier' would- carry the day. "It is rather curious," said one wellknown officer, "that the Volunteers never received a general nickname, particularly as they were the object of a great deal of chaff and derision in the old days, as the pages of 'Punch' and the other comic papers show. Some particular corps, bore titles which were unknown to the Army list. I remember that at Cambridge some twenty years ago the University rifles were known as ' bug shooters.' May be now for all I know ro the- contrary*. Itwas more a term of endearment than anything else, and the members of the corps used it familiarly among themselves. But I have never heard it used outside the University, ohd mv own present corpi has no nickname at all." . ' . ,