26 DECEMBER 1914, Page 2

A little reflection will show that this estimate does does

not go beyond the facts. The New Army has reached or will soon reach 1,300,000. Add to that some 650,000 Territorials, for the force has been doubled since the war. Next remember that some 50,000 National Reserves of Class I. have been absorbed into the Special Reserve. That makes 2,000,000. In addition, the Regular Army, plus its Reserve, plus the Special Reserve battalions at the beginning of the war, numbered nearly 400,000, and we reach Mr. Lloyd George's figure. To this we must add the 250.000 sailors and marines, and National Reservists not in Regular, Territorial, or Special Reserve units, but acting "on their own" as guards of railways and vulnerable points such as waterworks, powder-works, and important bridges over rivers, &c.