29 JANUARY 1910, Page 2

The French Government have decided to bring in a Bill

to purge the Army of its criminal elements. The Bill will revise the legislai ion of 1905 by which criminal "hooligans" (known: in Paris as apaches) are placed in home regiments instead of, as formerly, being sent to African corps. The old method will be reintroduced, and the violent members of society while serving their time in the Army will be subject to the speciallj rigorous discipline which is possible in Algeria and Tunis. We do not know what the result may be of using Africa permanently as a dumping-ground for undesirables, and one would like to hear the opinion of French colonists on the subject. But it is clear that Frenchmen at home, who stand to gain even if Africa should suffer, -urgently demand the changes which the Bill offers. French parents have been objecting strongly to letting their sons be contaminated by criminal companions.