Touching on the newly established Veterans' Reserve, com- posed of
men who had served with the colours and passed through the reserve but who in many cases were only a little over thirty, Mr. Haldane expressed the hope that the recruit- ing to this corps would be large enough to reduce considerably the shortage in the Special Reserve. The provision for aeronautics now amounted to £133,300; a new dirigible had been built and nine aeroplanes purchased, and the dirigible factory had been completely reorganised. The grants for the Territorial Associations would be increased by £131,000, in- chiding £68,000 for establishment and £30,000 for horses. The officers in the Territorials were about 1,150 more than those in the old Volunteers and Yeomanry in 1907, and the camp attendances showed a marked increase. Recruiting, owing to good trade and emigration, had not been good, but the last two months showed improvement, and the force stood at 272,000 officers and men, or about five-sixths of the whole. Of these 1,045 officers and 17,459 men had volun- teered for foreign service.
Previous page
