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perhaps, greater even than those which have been made by our generals and by our Administration. But do not excuse us, gentlemen; blame us, because that will help us to correct these mistakes. But do not think that Englishmen alone make mistakes, and do not be afraid that if even greater trials should befall us we shall not be able to hold our own with any who come against us. It is quite true we underestimated, not the numbers of the Boers, not the amount of their arms and ammunition, because our Intelligence Department was accurately informed in regard to all these particulars; we did underestimate the force and the value of the resistance which would be brought against us. But so did every one else. So did all 3 the I people on the spot who are supposed to know everything. So did our foreign critics. As far as I know, there was not one single man, either in England or outside, of any considerable reputation who anticipated that the Boer army would prove as formidable a force as it undoubtedly has done. But, then, when the early experience of the war showed that we had made this mistake, have not we, has not the country, some right to be proud of their own temper and resolution, which never flinched for an instant under the reverses that they were called upon to bear, and have not they the right to be proud of the resources which were called out and of the efforts which this country made to repair those mistakes ? Those who 4 hate us—and there are a few of them—those who hate us say that they see in | this war a proof of the military weakness of this country. They must have thought us very strong before. I would not advise them now to act upon their opinion, which I do not suppose is shared by the best authorities in the countries in which this opinion is said to prevail. But supposing that twelve months ago any man had said in public that this country would be able to send out from its own shores and from its own citizens an army of more than 150,000 men fully equipped, that it would be joined by another force of more than 30,000 men voluntarily offered by our self-governing colonies, and consisting of men who, I have the authority of 5 one of the bravest generals who has been in the field to say, are as good as the best troops |

Shorthand. — For Junior Civil Service. Time allowed : 3 hours. Insteuctions to Supebvisoes. 1. Inform candidates before the time for taking up this subject that they may use pen or pencil as they please for taking notes, which should be written on ruled paper, but that they must transcribe those notes into longhand with pen and ink. 2. Inform candidates that when once you have commenced to dictate you cannot stop until the passage is finished. 3. Dictate the passages at the following rates of speed :— (a.) 50 words a minute. (b.) 80 „ (c) 100 „ N.B. —It will be well to practise reading these aloud some time beforehand, looking at a watch or clock, so as to accustom yourself to reading at the exact rate indicated. The matter to be read is marked off into sections, each of which is to occupy a minute. The Supervisor will perhaps find it advisable to mark it off into smaller sections, each containing the number of words to be read in fifteen seconds, and to read one section in every quarter of a minute. As the candidates hear the passage read only once, the reader's articulation ought to be very clear, and the candidates ought to be so placed as to be able to hear well. 4. Candidates are at liberty to take down one, two, or three passages, as they choose. All the passages required by candidates are to be dictated before any one begins to transcribe ; and there should be as little delay as possible between the readings. 5. Inform candidates that rapidity in transcribing notes into longhand is essential, and note carefully on the transcribed copy the exact time taken in the transcription of each passage. Candidates must not look at their notes while a passage that does not concern them is being read. 6. Inform them also that the clearness and accuracy of the shorthand notes (which must in every case be sent in attached to the transcript) will be taken account of by the examiner; and that they must not alter the shorthand notes after the dictation is finished. Passages foe Dictation. (a.) At the rate of 50 words a minute. Takes 10 minutes. But the Spion Kop despatches certainly did not reach us in a shape at all corresponding with what is laid down in the Queen's Eegulations. They cover altogether some forty-five pages of print, and I think I am right in saying they contain altogether twenty different 1 documents of one | sort or another, many of them being of such a kind that their inclusion in a despatch would not be in accordance with the Queen's Eegulations—documents the nature of which shows clearly that they ought not properly to be regarded as forming part of the 2 despatch, and that they | were probably not so regarded by those who had written them or sent them Home. That was the position in which we found ourselves, and we had to decide what we would do. The alternatives open to us were limited in number. We might publish nothing at 3 all; and I | gather that is a course which would have found favour in many quarters. But if we had done that it would have been a new departure of a very abrupt kind. We should have been establishing a new principle—the principle that we might publish so long as a 4 despatch | contained nothing but praise, but that a despatch containing dispraise was to be held back from publication. I strongly suspect that if we had taken that line the public would have endeavoured to insist upon publication ; and I doubt extremely whether we should have