31 JANUARY 1914, Page 19

At the annual meeting of the Cityof London TerritorialAseo- ciation

on Tuesday, Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood announced his resignation of the chairmanship, which he has held for the last five years. He had been anxious to retire two years earn but bad remained on out of admiration for the efforts of some of his colleagues, "the patriotic few who endeavoured to carry out the work of the nation." Yet in spite of all these efforts—involving infinite pains and great personal expense— the City was still two thousand seven hundred abort of the small force of eleven thousand which was its quota of the defensive forces of the country ; they were, moreover, several hundreds short of the number to which they attained two years ago. He must admit, therefore, that they had been unsuccessful, and he could do no more. Sir Evelyn Wood added that personally he had never concealed his opinion that the military defence of the United Kingdom could only be secured by the universal military training for home defence of every male adult. Sir Evelyn Wood, who entered the Navy more than sixty years ago, had passed his seventieth year when he took up the chairmanship of the City of London Territorial Association. He has left nothing undone to build up the system, and no one can wonder at his resignation in view of the inadequate results which have attended his exertions and those of his colleagues.