Sir Howard Vincent in a letter to the Times of
Monday subjects Mr. Arnold-Forster's Army reorganisation scheme to a lengthy examination. With regard to the changes in the Regular Army, be thinks them too drastic, and incapable of providing for either increased economy or in- creased efficiency. But his chief criticism is concerned with the proposals relating to the Militia and the Volunteers. Reform, and not abolition, he considers the proper course with the Militia, which is a cheap force, has an excellent record, and might easily be made efficient. He points out that the reduction of the nominal establishment of the Volunteers means that they cannot be increased except with the consent of Parliament, which would be a bar to any rapid or secret preparations for defence. The reduction is supposed to mean higher efficiency, but it simply means expelling the best men and reducing the rest to a stereotyped pattern, which is not the idea of a citizen levy. As our readers are aware, we thoroughly agree with Sir Howard Vincent that the road to reform lies through a general system of training boys and young men to arms, and a greater generosity on the Govern- ment's part in connection with the expenses of drill and shooting, rather than through the transformation of the Volunteers into an imitation of a second-rate Regular Army.
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