LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF VOLUNTEER TRAINING CORPS.
ITo vas EDITOR OF TOM "SrErmoe."1 SIR,—The Central Association of Volunteer Training Corps is under a very great obligation to you, not only for the interest which you have displayed in the Volunteer Training Movement from the outset, but for the very substantial aid which you have given to the Central Association by the most successful appeal for subscriptions which you have been good enough for some time past to keep open in your columns.
The movement is rapidly growing in importance, and the various scattered corps which sprang up automatically all over the country are now being organized by counties where the Lord-Lieutenant has given his countenance to the sieve- went. It is impossible at the present time to say what form this movement will ultimately assume. But I suppose it ran hardly be denied that the presence of large bodies of men who have undergone such training and disoipliuo as they can acquire in the time would be of great assistance to the military authorities should their services be required.
The Central Association has a great responsibility, because to it has been entrusted the power of affiliating the various corps and recommending them for the red brassard supplied by the War Office, which, according to instructions issued both by the War Office and the Home Office, turns them front civilians into combatants, and enables them to use such arms as they may possess. In this connexion it is perhaps im- portant to point out that it is the right to wear this brassard which is of importance, and not the possession of a uniform, es it has been laid down in the instructions issued to the Lords. Lieutenant that all those who do not belong to corps that have been affiliated to the Central Association will have such arms as they possess taken away from them, and will he called upon to perform those civilian duties which are euphemistically described as fatigue duties.
The Central Association, thanks in a large measure to the subscriptions which have been provided by your readers, haa now been able to organize itself into separate departments —the Arms Department, the Affiliation Department, the Speakers Department, and the Military Organization De- partment—all of which are largely staffed by Volunteers. With several hundred letters a day to answer, and the respon- sibility of a thousand corps to inspect scattered all over the country, the expenses are necessarily very heavy.
Demands for riles are constantly being made to the Central Association, but the number sufficient to arm these corps would be so large that a very big sum would be required, running into many thousands of pounds. This is a problem which will have to be faced as the Volunteers become more efficient. Some of the corps have already been supplied with rifles through the generosity of private donors, while Lord Rothschild has given me two thousand five hundred rifles, which I have distributed oa his behalf along the East Coast. In all purchases of rifles the greatest care is being taken not to interfere with the supply to the Regular Forces.
When the history of the war comes to be told, not the least stirring episode will be the springing into existence of this great army of veterans, pledged to the service of the State without fee or reward, and not a little of the success of this movement will be due to the stimulating sympathy of the Spectator. —I am, Sir, Ac., DESBOISOU0 11. Taplow Court, Taplow, Bucks.
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