On Saturday last at Gunnersbury Park Sir John French inspected
the Middlesex Division of the National Reserve, about eighteen hundred men taking part in the march-past- a very fine achievement, upon which we very warmly con- gratulate the county of Middlesex. Since, we are thankful to say, the majority of National Reservists are in good employment, it is by no means easy to collect them together even on a Saturday afternoon. After the presentation of a flag to the Willesden battalion, Sir John French expressed his wish that people who thought military training was of no value to the strength of the nation could have seen the parade of the Middlesex National Reservists. The object of the National Reserve, he went on to say, was to form a great reservoir out of the large number of officers and men who had severed their connexion with the Army, and who constituted a latent force lying idle. Perhaps it was felt that they should be organized in higher units, and be provided with uniforms and a sufficient supply of arms and ammunition. Money, however, he concluded, was hard to get, and the business of the National Reservists was to maintain their training and knowledge, and to spread abroad a national military spirit.
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