We fear that these declarations mean that a standard of
so- called efficiency is to be set up for the Auxiliaries which will have the effect of very greatly diminishing the numbers of the Volunteers. It is intended, we opine, to get rid of some eighty thousand Volunteers under the plea of inefficiency, and so to save a considerable sum every year. We venture to say that the Government, if they are allowed to try their plan, will fail even in their scheme of obtaining increased efficiency from those Volunteers who will be allowed to continue in existence. They will find, that is, that the Volunteers who can do most camp work—the Government's chief test of efficiency —are not the best Volunteers, but very often the worst. Yet they mean to keep these, and get rid of the able men of good position and standing who, though keen Volunteers, cannot find time for camp.
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