It is stated, we perceive, that the ten years' enlistment
rule will this year cost the army about 12,000 men, and the Commander-in- Chief has issued a circular calling on all recruiting officers to be active. The Indian papers add that 7,000 men will require pas- sages this year, as the soldiers when they re-enlist at all prefer to come home and see their friends for a few weeks. The recruiting, moreover, is falling off, and letters appear in the papers calling on the country to increase the pay of the privates, while the Times suggests that the time of service must be still further shortened. The latter suggestion is, we fear, inapplicable to an Empire some of whose colonies take six mont.hs to reach by sea. Suppose one- fourth of all commissions were distributed as of right among non- commissioned officers ?
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