In the House of Commons on Monday the question of
the education of military officers was raised by Colonel Long and Mr. Lee. Mr. Brodrick in reply sketched the new system under which officers are to enter and be trained for the Army. He will, to begin with, constitute an Advisory Board, which is to say the final word in regard to military examinations. Cadets at Sandhurst, as is now the case at Woolwich, are to remain there two years instead of one. Officers will also enter the Army through the Militia as at present, but a Militia candidate will be attached for six months to a Line battalion before he gets his commission ; and whether his commission is granted or not will depend upon the report, not only of the Militia Colonel, but of the Line Colonel. Mr. Brodrick's proposals for in- creasing the number of University candidates, which strike us as sound and likely to be successful, are as follows. A young man at the University under twenty who desires to enter the Army will do six weeks' training with a Regular unit before he has passed Moderations, gr. the examination at other Uni- versities equivalent to "Mods.," and another similar training after he has passed "Mods." After he has finished these trainings, he will be given a temporary commission in the Army, and will return to Oxford, or whatever is his University, and proceed to take his degree. He must, how- ever, take an honour degree, and to this honour degree will be attached in every case an examination in military subjects. If he succeeds in taking honours, the candidate will at once be able to turn his temporary commission into a permanent commission and to enter the Army. But his commission will be dated two years back so as not to make the University officers, though older in years, junior in rank to the Sand- hurst and Militia officers.
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