THE LACK OF TERRITORIAL OFFICERS.
LTO TIM EDITOR Or TIM "SrimarAton."J LTO TIM EDITOR Or TIM "SrimarAton."J Eli/.'4 have read the rather weak-kneed letters of your correspondents " Quiuque Filii " and " M." in last week's iisue with some surprise. There are a very large number of battalions in the Territorial Force where Second-Lieutenants are not only not asked to buy anything more than Service- d"as, but are strictly forbidden to do so, and I can only think, either that your correspondent has been particularly unfor- tunate in the selection of a unit in which hii eldest son should serve as an officer, or that it is Young Hopeful himself who sets store by " dreams of tunics " and " fancy mess boots," and is trying to rush his parent accordingly. If " Quinque will send the young man to see me, I will guarantee to recommend him to any number of excellent battalions in which
be
may serve as an officer without having to put his hand in is pocket at all.
Your correspondent " M.," on the other band, aged twenty- six, does not appear to realise that the proper authority to
his to apply for a commission is, not the War Office, but ala County Association. It is not surprising, in the circum- stances, that the War Office should be dilatory in undertaking a duty which is not properly theirs, and I am only surprised to learn that they undertook it at all. Your correspondent bides his identity under a pseudonym, but, taking him at his own valuation, he is an eminently desirable candidate for a commission. I would certainly suggest that he approach his County Association at once, in which case, if the County A. ssociation put as much value on him as he does on himself, he will find himself gazetted in time for camp.—I am, Sir, 15 Pall Mall East, S.W. ROBERT A. JOHNSON.
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