The debate on the Army Estimates yesterday week was notable
for some interesting speeches on the relations of officers and men and the statue of the " ranker." Mr. John Ward having condemned the Army as a close aristocratic compound in which the common soldier got no chance at all, Lord Tullibardine made a most effective reply. When he served in Egypt, while the common soldiers, including Mr. Ward, got their dinner and sleep regularly, he thought himself lucky if he ever got dinner. Owing to their training the officers of to-day took more interest in their men, and the extraordinary affection now existing between officers and men was unknown to the Member for Stoke-on-Trent. He agreed with him, however, in thinking the prejudice against " rankers " was due to the fact that they knew too much of the ways of the old soldier. If Parliament wished to have "rankers " as officers, it must be prepared to grant them adequate pay. Colonel Chaloner stated that no one welcomed men appointed to commissions from the ranks more than the British officer.
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