[To TH2 EDITOR Or TOR "SPECTATOR"] SIR, — Thanks to the valuable

aid afforded me by the Spectator,

and to the courteiy and hearty co-operation with which my inquiries have been met by Volunteer commanding officers

throughout the country, I am now able to quote Statistics which confirm in overwhelming fashion the contention of my letter as published in your issue of March 11th. 'It will be remembered that Mr. Arnold-Forster stated in the House of Commons that the meagre 0) response made by the Volunteer Force during the Boer War proved, in his opinion, that it was "an absolute delusion to suppose that the Volunteers can be relied upon for furnishing those great additions which war would certainly demand for the Regular Army." In my letter I examined the case of one Volunteer battalion, and endeavoured to show— (1) That, far from its being the case that any "urgent call" was made, only 56 men were allowed to go with the Volunteer service companies, although three times that' number came forward.

(2) That the eagerness on the part of individuals was so great that not only were all the men asked for for the service com- panies of 1900 and 1901 forthcoming, but over twice as Many again sailed in other corps not technically furnished by the Volunteer FOrce.

(8) That had there been any question of separate Volunteer service battalions under Volunteer officers, which, with the ex- ception of the C.I.V., there was not, a very much lirger number of mon would have gladly offered their services.

I added that I believed that the state of the case with this single battalion was .quite representative of the Volunteer Force generally, and I promised that if I could obtain the figures from other -battalions, I would take up the challenge

more fully. This I now do. , . . .

The replies are still corning in.. Up to date I have received replies from 196 corps out of 383 in the whole lingdom Some of these were incomplete, the figures asked for in whim's II. and IV. Of the returns given belOw-beink' in many cases . at this date unobtainable. I have been obliged, therefore, in -order to arrive at a fair general summary, to : accept only the figures for the 124 corps which are absolutely complete, and even so the returns under column IV. of the men who enlisted otherwise than in the service companies are in all cases under the mark. Un- fortunately, no complete records appear to have been kept under this head, more particularly of men . who, finding they could not go out as Volunteers, resigned to re.enlist as Yeomen, Militiamen, or as Colonial horse, or, as in many thousands of instances, in the ranks . of the Regular Army itself. Although only 120 corps, therefore, are named, there is no reason to suppose that these are not fairly repre-

sentative of the force as a whole. .

The returns which I have received divide themselves into two kinds.

First come the comparatively small number of cases where the Colonels commanding, taking a more serious view of the situation than did the military advisers of the' Government, believed it to be their duty to ask every available man to go. In these cases the Volunteers, like the Militia, responded practically to a man;— . L IL m. ' IV.

Strength Volunteered Went with Went with on for South VoL Service other Corps. Nov. 1st, 1899. Africa Company. Corps.

1st Hants R.G.A. 545 532 i Services not}

1st Sussex R.E. 415

.•:.• 114g 52 Severn S.M.R.E. - ... ...... 167 30 let V.B. Royal Fusiers 777 ••• 697 65

5th V.B. Liverpool Regt. 598 ... 511 19 2nd V.B. Cheshire Regt 731 ••• 500 27 2nd Royal Welsh Fusiliers 747... 110 ' _ 24 2nd .B. South Wales Bor. 970 ...

V - 91730 16

3rd V.B. South Wales Bor. 916 •.• 916 lit ti 3rd V.B. Glamorgan.... ......... 718 ... 72 40 1st Middlesex R.V. 605 ••• 510 42106 Manchester R.A.M.0 193 ... 193 189 253 Maidstone R.A.M.C. 180 ... 180 - Woolwich R.A.M.C. ... ...... 300 ... 300 ... 146 10 _ _ — _ Total ..... . ........ 7862 ••• 6982 - 1370 585

From the above figures it would appear that had the whole of the 222,351. Volunteers on the strength been called upon, like the Militia, to volunteer for service anywhere, over seven- eighths of them, or approximately 200,000 men, would have been available. .

The more general 'attitude was, however, to call for volunteers for the service companies only ; and, in view of the strictly limited nature of the official demand, and of the very evident need for the retention of a large part of the Auxiliary Forces at home in the absence abroad df all but eight battalions of Regulars, many Volunteer Colonels very sensibly discouraged the remainder, and especially the married men, from going in any other capacity. Even here the zeal of the individual outran the discretion of the commanding officers to an amazing extent, and 30,703 men, from corps with a total strength of 84,602 on November 1st, 1899; volunteered for' 7,408 plices,—i.e., over one third of the strength, or' more than four times as many men as there were places to fill :— ARTILLERY VOLUNTEERS. :

• L IL III. IV. Strength Volunteered Went with Went with

Corps. On for South Vol. Service other Nov. 1st, Ma. Africa. Company. Cores.

1st Argyle and Bute 18t Berwick-on-Tweed let Worcester let City of London 1st Cumberland 3rd Durham 711 ... 251 ... 1st Essex . 567 ... 211 _ 1st Glamorgan ............. 755 ... 186 2nd Rants 609 165

2nd Lancashire ....... 691 - 280 - - 1

6th Lancashire 1st Shropshire 4. Staffordshire 623 Battery offered not accepted '-

let N. Riding, Yorks. 325

471 ... 278 ... - 69 4th West Yorkshire • The Tynemonth Si) ENGINEER VOLUNTEERS.

1st Cheshire 1st Durham let E. London let Hants 1st Lanarkshire..- ••••••••••••••••• 1st Newcastle-on-iyno let Northants..-- ...... .

let West Yorkshire let Lancashire 1st Aberdeenshire . ... 137 - 15 LINE REGIMENTS.

2nd V.B. Royal West Surrey... 755 ... 233 3rd V.B. Royal West Surrey... 543 ... 150 4th V.B. Royal West Surrey... 970 649 1st CR. Royal Went Surrey... ni 200 2nd V.13. Northum. Fusiliers 549 ,.. ' 191 let V.B. Royal Warwickshire 1543400

2nd V.B. Royal Warwickshire ate 310

3rd V.B. Royal Fusiliers 915 500 1st Y.B. Liverpool Regt. 986 260 467 ...

658 953 ... 366 WO 582 91 516 492 571 14.5 456 190 400 246 90 200 120 200.

••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• --• • -• •••

53 29 52 30

84 129

52 7 52 47 52. ••• 16 26 .•• 5 51 13 35 50 ••• 12 90 43 62 ••• 27 72 .•• 78 57 ••• 103

191 2- 175

95 ••• 53

47 $s 97 13.

NOv. lst, 1639. Africa. Company. Corps. 2nd V.B. Liverpool Regt. 831 47

3rd V.B.Liverpool Kept.

4th V.B. Liverpool Rapt 7th V.B. Liverpool Regt. 4th V.B. Norfolk Regt let V.B. Lincolnshire Rapt. 2nd V.B. Lincolnahire Kept 2nd V.B. Devonshire Regt. 5th V.B. Devonshire Regt.

1st V.B. Suffolk Regt. 2nd V.B. Suffolk Kept.

4th V.B. Suffolk Regt. (Cain- bridge IfniVersitY) 1st V.B. West Yorkshire Kept. 1st V.B. East Yorkshire Rapt. 3rd V.B. Bedfordshire Regt.... 2nd V.B. Lancashire Fusiliers 3rd V.B. Lancashire Fusiliers 3rd V.B. Cheshire Regt 5th V.B. Cheshire Kept 3rd V.B. Royal Welsh Pushers

4th V.B. South Wales lord

... 47 a

831 123 557 998 553 858 656 711 683 687 520 563 734 645 953 771

954 2370 820 5th V.B. South Wales Bord.... 472 2nd V.B. King's Own Scot. Bord. 564 let V.B. Gloucestershire Kept. 783 1st V.B. Worcestershire Kept. 1153 2nd V.B. Worcestershire Kept. 782

2nd V.B. E. Lancashire Regt 1153 let Surrey 458

2nd V.B. East Surrey Begt 537

4th V.B. East Surrey Kept. 814 2nd V.B. Duke of Cornwall's L.I. 730 The 3rd V.B. of the West ).

Riding Brigade let V.B. Border Regt..... 1177

2nd V.B. Border Rapt. 568

let V.B. Cinque Ports R.V. 710 1st V.B. Hampshire Rest.-- 1141 2nd V.B. Hampshire Itegt. 593 3rd V.B. Hampshire Rapt.1001

4th V.B. Hampshire Kept. 732

2nd V.B. Welsh Regt. 1134

4th V.B. Black Watch-- 760

1st V.B. (0.11.) Oxford L.I. 291

2nd V.B. Essex Kept. 748 3rd V.B. Essex Kept. 675

4th V.B. Essex Regt. ...... 686

1st Sherwood Foresters... 886

2nd V.B. LW. Kent 759

759 3rd V.B. R.W. Kent 585 1st V.B. (K.0.) Yorks. Li. 894

1st V.B. King's Shrop. L.I. 624

1st V.B. Middlx. Kept. 712 2nd V.B. Middlx. Regt 609

17th V.B. Middlx. Kept 694

5th Middlx. R.V. 770 13th Middlx. R.V. 1073 22nd Middlx. R.V. 747 2nd London 731 1st Wilts Regt. 744

6th V.B. Manchester Regt. 6167

1st V.B. York and Lancaster 758 2nd V.B. Durham LI.. 778 3rd V.B. Durham L.I 476 4th V.B. Durham 916 5th V.B. Durham L.I 910

2nd V.B. Highland LJ. 909

4th V.B. Gordon Highlanders 719 7th Middlesex R.V. 836 15th Middlesex R.V. 516 16th Middlesex R.V. 1094

2nd Tower Hamlets... 817

20th Middlesex 662 ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS VOLUNTEERS.

London Total ....... ........... 81602 ... 30703 ... 7408 ... 4624

R.B.—The figures given are for officers and men, the proportion of officers being eery large indeed in most cases.

Putting the two tables together, 37,685 men out of a total avail- able strength of 92,464 was the "meagre" response of this section of the Volunteer Forza for South Africa. These figures speak for themselves. If we are to take them (and I think we may honestly do so) as fairly representative, nearly half the whole force, or roughly 100,000 men in all, were anxious, quite unasked, to reinforce the Regular Army at the front.

It is quite absurd, then, for Mr. Arnold-Forster to imagine that the Volunteer service companies represented the utmost that could be squeezed out of the force by dint of the most argent appeals. As one Colonel writes, "no appeal was ever made, nor were any of my men asked to go in the sense that Mr: Arnold- Forster implies when he says that Cf7.e first appeal produced 11,000 man." Another officer of Artillery Volunteers writes : "I cannot now give definite numbers of those who asked to go. Our men to the last found the greatest difficulty in getting oat. The commanding officer offered the services of the whole regiment, and I have no doubt that every man would have gone. Butwe never got a chance." Another Artilleryman writes: "My whole corps volunteered, but we were told Artillery were not wanted. We then offered to go as Infantry, our men being good marksmen. But we were not allowed." There is also the well-known ease of the Volunteer Artillery regiment in the North, whose members are almost all in civil life employed in the manufacture of artillery, and what they do not know about guns is not worth knowing. The commanding officer of this corps offered to furnish a complete battery of four 4/ guns, and to provide the guns at his own expense. The War Office refused the offer on January 13th, 1900, stating that "nothing further was now required from the Volunteers." But on January 25th, relenting, they informed the gallant Colonel that they accepted his offer pro- vided he would find the guns. On the same day they took the precaution of wiring to the firm which was to supply them, " On no account supply guns for which Colonel X is in treaty " ! so 15

86 6

53 15 1. 150 so —

160 100 10 250 100 18 173 40 — 11730 — 400 56 18 435 68 6 200 41 ••• 2 - 274 274 ••• — 150 - 63 • • • 65

Mk 16:80 •••.•• 9

100 30 309 93 ••• 13 131 65 ••• 15 135 ... 11 ••• 30 .... 652 ... 276 ... 93 181 62 22 ... 121 29 6 ... 144 66 11 •• • 300 132 28 ... 360

75 so

164 106 26 .....

412°0 3s 57

157 3 ...... 129:3 39 79 43 103 .. 80 ••• 42 2 2370 652 ••• 276 93 227 •.• 108 1 174 .•• 102 400 ... 129 22 190 56 105 250 ... 60 37 498 .• • 104 55 96 60 13

— ... so 4

500 •• • 4727 49 ••• 32 6 .:. 550 68 57 300 62 96 400 50 •••45 262 75 ••• 67 555 132 ••• 59 185 56 ••• 23 551 275 •• •109 103 78 ••• 10 510 — - ... — 279 89 •••101 150 70 ••• 56 278 36 ••. 139 690 260 228 32 ••• 108

3451 ....•

305 108 118 59 • •• 18 2557 416 •••206 500 155 ••• 15 526 100 ••• 37 323 69 ••• 19 153 69 •• • 20 300 76 •• • 51. 259 65 • 63 . 182 35 •• 33 500 90 • • • 124 200 11 ••• 66 376 93 • • • 113 81 57 ..... 27 210 — ••• 143

urgent ; and, secondly, because the Volunteer Artillery corps are just those which stand most condemned by the War Secretary as " redundant " and "unnecessary." As a final instance of mili- tary cold-shouldering I give the case of an Engineer regiment which volunteered almost to a man. "All my men," writes the Colonel, "ate skilled tradesmen—carpenters, blacksmiths, elec- tricians, marine and mechanical engineers, telegraphists, riveters, (to. They would have been most useful to the R.E." None were, however, accepted for the RE., on the somewhat technical ground that the corps was one of submarine miners and that there was no sea in South Africa, and so the men who insisted on going were obliged to enlist in the Yeomanry !

Mr. Arnold-Forster has recently made a great point of the physical unfitness of the Volunteers. This is a serious charge, and if it were really true, as he asserts, that thirty-seven per cent. of those who selected themselves for service were medically unfit, this would greatly detract from the value of the figures I have given above. Speaking in the Commons on Monday, he stated that he had "evidence ample and convincing on this point, not from officers of the Regular Army, but from Volunteer officers." When pressed to quote this evidence, he named four authorities, of whom three were Regular soldiers ! This was not very con- vincing in itself; it is even less so when read with the following statement by the Colonel of a crack London corps :—" 116 men were asked for 200 at once came forward. My Surgeon- Captain' who regularly examines recruits at St. George's Barracks for the Regular Army, knowing only 116 would be accepted, cut the number down to 200. About ten days later two young R.A.M.C. surgeons were ordered to attend at my headquarters at 8 p.m. to finally pass the men (surely superfluous after Dr. A.) They were in an extremely bad temper, and swore at having to come out to examine a lot of 'Volunteers' after duty hours. We gave them their dinner, and then by unfair tape-pinching, which I witnessed, and so did Dr. A., they ploughed all but 60. One of the rejected men went straight off and was accepted for the K.R.R. ! " Another Colonel from the North speaks of a man who was rejected on medical grounds for the first service company as being too thin. "He VMS taken for the second company, never was off duty in South Africa, and is now a Glasgow policeman " ! These facts are inexplicable, except on the supposition that the authorities were obliged, in order to save invidious com- parisons, to level the percentage of rejections for the Volunteers up to the alarmingly high figure shown in the medical examina- tion of the Regulars.

Volunteer officers as a whole would, I am sure, gladly welcome a more rigid medical examination of intending recruits on common-sense lines ; it being always remembered that a youth who is weedy enough to-day may be an excellent specimen in six months' time. If, as Mr. Arnold-Forster asserts, the force as at present constituted contains a large proportion of cripples, the reductions he desires will follow automatically. To a rational elimination of the medically unfit there is no possible objection.

But we earnestly entreat him to turn no able-bodied man away from the door who presents himself for any military training, however little, and, above all, to set no upward limit upon the numbers of the Volunteer Force. For when the next emer- gency arises, it will be far graver than was the South African War, and this time every man will be wanted.

—I am, Sir, &c., VOLUNTEER FIELD OFFICER.