THE EDUCATION OP OFFICERS FOR THE ARMY.
(TO TILE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
Sin,—The best answer to the Duke of Bedford's proposals for officering the Army (Spectator, April 13th) is a rough estimate of the cost. Assuming that eight hundred com- missions in the Army have to be filled annually, that each candidate has served four years in the Militia, and that a goodly number will never pats the final examination, we may conclude that there must be five thousand Militia subalterns under instruction :— Annual pay of 5.000 subalterns at, say. 400 £450,000 400 Garrison class and other instructors for same at, say, 2300 ... 120.000 Sundries ... •.. •.. 8,000 Total annual cost .e578,000 To this would have to be added the initial cost of erecting four hundred classrooms, and the annual cost of the horses upon which the young gentlemen are to experiment. I do not at all wish to throw cold water on the Duke of Bedford's scheme, but as at the present time we probably do not pay the odd £78.000 a year for officering the Army, why should we give another half-million of money for the same article ?— [" Common-Sense " does not quite meet the point. The Duke of Bedford's contention is that we should nbt get the same article, but a much better one—i.e., send the finished article, and not merely a piece of raw taaterial to be worked up in the regiments—and at the same time link the Militia more closely to the Regular Army.—ED. Spectator.]
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