An unfortunate contretemps has arisen in connection with the Royal
Review which is to take place at Edinburgh on September 18th. The Commanding Officers of the Glasgow and other Scottish Volunteer Corps unanimously refused to take their full strength to the Review on the ground that, as the War Office will only allow forty-five per cent. of the travelling and other expenses, the officers would have to pay from 2100 to 2200 each out of their own pockets. We can quite understand that it may be difficult, or even impossible, for the War Office to accede to the demand for an in- creased grant. On the other hand, not only is it altogether unreasonable to expect Volunteer officers to incur such heavy personal expenses, but the discouraging attitude of the present War Minister towards the Volunteers has been eminently calcn- lated to check the flow of patriotic munificence on the part of its officers. As a result of this deadlock, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh issued an appeal to the Lord Provosts and Provosts of Scotland that the Corporations should contribute to a fund for the Volunteers attending the Review, to which the Edinburgh Corporation has voted 2500 and the Glasgow Corporation 2750, which will leave about 2250 or 2300 to be found by the officers. The difficulty has thus been tided over, but the incident, taken in connection with the resent- ment caused by the medical inspection order, has only aggra- vated the discontent felt by the Volunteers as a whole. It is a most unfortunate circumstance that the loyalty of Volunteer officers should have been confounded with their capacity for incurring out-of-pocket expenses.
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