THE "SPECTATOR" EXPERIMENTAL COMPANY. [TO THE Eorron 07 THE "SPECTATOR...I

Sum,—In my last letter I merely stated the results of our inspections in signalling and gymnastics ; now, with your permission, I propose to give fuller particulars, and to offer a few remarks.

First, as regards signalling. It must not be supposed that the forty-two men who have been passed in sending and reading Morse messages with the flag are properly qualified signallers in the Army sense. The test applied to our men has been limited to reading at the rate laid down for Yeomanry and Volunteers—four words per minute—the text of a message, and to sending, at the same rate, a message in such a manner as to be readable by the signaller to whom it is sent. There are various technicalities connected with Service signalling which we have not until the last few days attempted to teach, and even now only to a selected few. It should be obvious that we could not expect in so short a time to turn out really expert signallers, more especially as our men have been practised, during each week, for about the same number of hours devoted to signalling, in a single day, by an Army learner. That we have had reasonable success is, I think, very creditable to the men themselves and to their instructors ; the latter, by the way, being, moreover, in no case qualified signallers. To some of the men the sergeants have imparted skill greater than they themselves possessed, and this is a mark of the highest schoolmastership. Sixty-seven men qualified in semaphore signalling, and a good many more will certainly succeed before the Company is disbanded.

Of our success in the gymnasium I can boast freely, and without the slightest reason to qualify my boastings in any particular what- ever. The eight exercises selected by Colonel Rolt, the Inspector of Gymnasia, were valued at ten marks apiece, the qualifying standard being forty marks,—or, in other words, fifty per cent. The lowest marks gained by any man amounted to fifty-three, and the highest to seventy-nine, the Company average being 696, or eighty-seven per cent. Only three men were prevented by sickness from taking part in the inspection, so that ninety-seven out of the hundred were tested, and all, as I have already said, passed with credit. Next week we shall face a more serious ordeal at Aldershot under the eye of Sir John French himself, who will observe our performances during field operations on the 28th and 29th inst. Your readers will, I know, wish us success with all their hearts, and we, for our part, will at all events do our best to deserve it.

Some people still pretend that the "Experiment," however interesting in itself, nevertheless can prove nothing. Apart from my plainly asserted intention to prove that the British officer, in spite of his alleged "stupidity,' can do his own work (and is not only ready and able, but eager, to do it) if allowed to be responsible for it, we have, I think, proved something else of far greater importance: we have proved that under suitable conditions the right class of man finds military service pleasant, and can within a short space be rendered a fairly efficient soldier. But, it will be said, the results with, or the opinions of, only one hundred men are of small account. I deny the justice of this objection, because our men are representatives of all the classes from which the Militia should be recruited. I have taken the trouble to ascertain how many of the Spectator soldiers are willing to enlist in the Militia on the terms stated in the notice circulated among them for the purpose, a copy of which I now append :—

" PROPOSED NEW CONDITIONS OF MILITIA SERVICE.

(1) Engagement twelve years, of which five to be in the Reserve.

(2) Six months' training on enlistment, and subsequently one week in camp in alternate years, in addition to twenty-two company drills and exercises, in the evenings, on the principle followed in the Volunteer Service, but with pay at the full Army rates. Every man not prevented by sickness or other special cause to attend the annual inspection of his battalion at the camp, and to fire his course of musketry.

(3) Reserve men to fire course of musketry only, and to receive -el at Christmas.

(4) Only men of good character to be permitted to enlist in the Militia.

(5) The Militia to serve abroad in the event of 'National Emergency.'

Men of the Spectator Company are invited to state whether, in the event of the Militia being reorganised as above, they would be willing to enlist therein (so far as they can see at present) on the understanding that the six months' service already performed by them in the Spectator Experimental Company should be allowed to count."

Sixty-two menAlrawn from all classes—from labourers to the son of a clergyman—have given in their names ; and I may add that in reply to a further question as to how many would be willing to serve forthwith during a further period of six months, in a training battalion, as non-commissioned officers and trained soldiers, seventy-six have signified their readiness to do so. I thought it worth while to ask the, latter question, although I d

not know whether Mr. Haldane has any intention of organising any such battalion.

The reports received by me from Lieutenant Stone, Somerset- shire Light Infantry, who inspected the signalling classes, and from Lieutenant Hutchison, Coldstream Guards, Superintendent of Gymnasia, Chelsea Barracks, are attached to this letter, and will, I feel sure, be interesting to your readers.

—I am, Sir, St.c., A. W. A, POLLOCK, Lieut.-Colonel.

Hounslow, August 21st.