The Times of Thursday contains a most interesting and instructive
article from "Our Special Correspondent" on the Spectator Experimental Company. After describing the nature of the Experiment, and the good results which he himself witnessed, the Times correspondent writes as follows :—" But, although the progress must be very satis. factory to all concerned with the experiment, yet the question which affects the public is, not so much whether Col. Pollock will be able, as I feel sure he will be able, to turn out his present command in a condition to fulfil his contention, as whether the present experiment may not prove the whole fundamental training structure of the Army—namely, the training of the soldier recruits—to be antiquated and rotten." The Times correspondent goes on to point out what we believe to be nothing less than the truth,—viz., that if the Spectator Experimental Company can at the end of its training show itself superior to an ordinary company of Regulars, the result will be due, not to any fault of the ordinary regimental officer, but to the fact that, owing to existing conditions, the regi- mental officer, though nominally responsible for his company, is rarely given the opportunity of seeing his men, much less of training them. This view we entirely endorse. Neither we nor Colonel Pollock have ever claimed that he can do what other British officers cannot do. Instead, our and his desire has been to show what any competent company officer could do if he were allowed the chance.
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