NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE conditions prescribed by the Secretary for War for retaining enough men with the Colours for occupying Germany, for carrying on the work of the Army at home, and for garrisons abroad, are such as circumstances have rendered inevitable. The Army could not at once bo conducted on a voluntary basis because an attempt at voluntary enlistment failed though liberal bonuses and long periods of leave were offered. The craving for civil life was too arena in our utunilitaristic nation. Service must therefore be compulsory, and the Army will have to number abort nine hundred thousand men. Even with this number the British Army in Germany will be distinctly smaller than the French Army, and very much smaller than the American. We expressed the hope long ago that as the Americans, having come late into the war, were much fresher than ourselves and the French, they would be able to form the major part of the occupying armies. We are very glad indeed that America has fallen in handsomely with this idea.
