The Army Estimates which were issued on Thursday, March 6th,
are for 245,000,000, and show a decrease of 17,000,000 on those of last year. The reduction is due to the withdrawal of troops from Constantinople, and to the ending of other commitments of the War ; it is not due to any particular change in the policy of national defence. The Estimates were drawn up in general by the late Government, and have been adopted with few changes by the present Government. With a view to improving the recruiting for both the Regular and the Territorial Armies, the Secretary for War explains that a false impression has been created that there are to be reductions in the rate of pay. There is no question, he states, of any reduction in the case of men who are already serving. He also states that the recommenda- tions of Lord Haldane's Committee on the education and training of officers have been accepted in principle by the Army Council. For reasons that we all understand the Army has lost some of its old attractiveness, and it is most important that young men of brains should know that they can find in it an assured career where professional merit, and not the accidents of position or the possession of a certain amount of money, will be the foundation of success.
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