30 JANUARY 1915, Page 14

We admit that sound strategy is dead against the policy

of petits paquets, and forbids any attempt at landing an expeditionary force at Fiume or Ragusa, but the natural man cannot help wishing that an army, half British and half French, working with the Serbians and presumably the Roumanians, could be sent to march through the south of Hungary to join bands with the Russians. Probably the best answer• to our cravings is, "All in good time." We sincerely trust, however, that the South Slava will not meanwhile be over- whelmed in orgies of blood. We notice with satisfaction that the Lords-Lieutenant and Deputy-Lieutenants are to be "put into khald." We trust that this means that the Deputy-Lieutenants are to lose their merely ceremonial character—the Lords-Lieutenant have always been hard workers—and that henceforth duties of a military kind will be placed upon them. We have always thought that it would be a good plan to revive the clause dealing with the Deputy-Lieutenants to be found in Windham's Act of 1810 imposing universal service, which was the law of the land for some two years. By that clause Deputy•Lientenanta were given honorary military rank in the Militia. If this analogy were to be carried oat, they would now receive honorary commissions as Captains or Majors in Territorial regiments. Many of them would possibly be of little or no use in the field, but if a Deputy-Lieutenant were attached to each unit, he might do a great deal of useful outside work for his corps, and no relieve the commanding officer.