6 DECEMBER 1856, Page 2

The new regulations for Staff appointments, issued by the Duke

of Cambridge, are another promise of gradual reform in the Army. Officers in active service will be recommended by their commanders for selection ; they will have to go through a course of instruction at the public expense ; and they will then, if they pass their examinations creditably, be eligible for ap- pointments on the Staff. The Staff will thus gradually become recruited by men trained in the school and in active service,—a nucleus for the most efficient army in time of war. This is not exactly an abolition of the purchase system, but it is so far a counteractive of it ; and it is not the first pledge which the Duke of Cambridge has given for the earnestness of his desire to improve the Army.