22 MAY 1909, Page 22

A HANDBOOK TO THE TERRITORIAL FORCE:f

Mn. BAKER, who presents the somewhat rare combination of ' an historian, a lawyer, and a student of military affairs, has written an admirable and most practical guide to the Terri- torial Force. It must have been a difficult book to prepare, for besides giving a careful analysis of the Territorial and. Reserve Forces Act of 1907, and explaining the details of - organisation which few people are capable of learning from. an Act of Parliament, it also provides a full history of the citizen forces of the kingdom, from the earliest type of - general levy downwards. The reviewer's task is idle in the-- case of such a book ; lie could only analyse what is in itself an analysis. It is sufficient to say that in the historical section wide and accurate learning is combined with a gift of clear - and concise statement which is not common in military history. In the practical section a mass of statutory pro- visions is reduced to terms which the ordinary man can grasp. And there is a very useful concluding chapter on the law of the Territorial Force and the legal rights and liabilities of its members. Mr. Haldane supplies a short introduction in which he explains what is soon apparent to the reader,—. Mr. Baker's qualifications for the task he has undertaken. The book gives what no one of the ordinary military manuals- could give,—an account of the civil aspect, both in its histori- cal and practical bearings, of the new citizen• army. It. should be in the hands, not only of every Territorial officer, but of all of the rank-and-file who take a serious interest in the new form of service. Paragraph headings in large type facilitate its use as a manual. Our only criticism is that a work which is produced under the authority of the War Office, and is obviously of great practical importance, might have been issued at a more popular price.

" Stories of the English Told to a Child. By F. London : W, Blackwood and Sons. r5s. net.) t The Territorial Force: a Manual of its Law, Organisation, and Administra- tion. By Darold Baker, M.A. With an Introduction by the Right lion. B. B..,

Haldane. London : John Murray. k5s. net.]