In the House of Commons on Monday night, while the
Army Estimates were under discussion, Mr. Lee expressed his regret that the Secretary of State had stopped or reduced the expense of the military reconnaissance of defensive positions in these islands in order to effect a small economy. The strategical and tactical survey was a small precaution against a hundred and one chances, and it was only with the know- ledge of the ground to be obtained from it that Irregular troops could cope successfully with an organised force. Though in essentials adherents of the "blue-water" school, we entirely agree with Mr. Lee, and very. much hope that the War Office may not abandon' the plan under which officers are trained to know their own country from a military point of view, and to consider in all its details the problem of home defence. Quite apart from the chance that the knowledge thus acquired might be supremely useful if the impossible or the improbable happened, and these shores were invaded, the work affords what we may call an excellent form of "cub-hunting" for young officers. These must be trained somewhere, and it is just as well that in the course of that training the defensive positions and the lie of our country generally should be thoroughly surveyed and understood. After all, there would be something very ridiculous if ours were to be the only Army that had not considered the possibility of warfare in these islands, for it is well known that the General Staffs of the chief Continental Powers are thoroughly well supplied with plans and confidential reports in regard to British terrain. Mr. Haldane admitted that the surveys which we desire to see retained only cost some £7,000 a year.
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