The Army Estimates for 1908-9, with a Memorandum by Mr.
Haldane, were issued on Monday. The total of the Estimates is 227,459,000, which is less than in 1907-8 by 2301,000, and less than in 1905-6 by 22,354,000. There is a reduction of 5,000 in the number of men voted. Mr. Haldane remarks that military expenditure cannot be profitably con- sidered apart from military policy. The policy of the Govern- ment has been to proceed cautiously, if steadily, in the endeavour to reduce cost. Violent efforts would not only produce reaction, but would be disappointing in their results. Mr. Haldane goes on to justify his argument by history. The year 1862 saw the end of the policy by which the forces of the Empire were dispersed ; concentration became the chief object. The outcome of the change of policy was the Cardwell system, and everything now aimed at by the War Office is merely a logical extension of that system. Any departure from these principles "would bring us face to face with those very evils" for which Mr. Cardwell and Mr. Glad. stone had to find a remedy in 1872.
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