RICHMOND PARK AS A MANCE1TVRING GROUND FOR TROOPS.
WE are always deploring, and with good reason, the want of open spaces near London for the exercising of our troops in field tactics. Except for one or two commons, like Wimbledon Common, the London Volun- teers and the other Metropolitan troops have no places near at hand in which to carry out field-days and manceuvres. In face of this grave impediment to the military training of so great a portion of our Auxiliary Forces, it behoves us to do all in our power to provide the necessary facilities. Clearly the first thing to consider is whether any open places near London at present exist which could be, but are not, used for the training of troops. If no such places exist, then we suppose we must put up with the present inconveniences as best we may ; but if they do exist, then it appears to us a crime against the nation not to make full use of them. An open space which is not used by our soldiers, but whieh, unless there is some hidden reason against its use, seems perfectly suitable, will at once occur to the minds of our readers. That open space is Richmond Park. Richmond Park has an area of 2,300 acres, and is nearly nine miles in circumference. It is undulating and broken up with woods and coverts and other features—such as the Pen Ponds—and yet not too much broken up, and it infact presents just the configuration which makes it an ideal training-ground for troops acting in comparatively small bodies. It is not suitable for an army corps to manoeuvre in, but well suited to a brigade. Again, it adjoins Wimbledon Common and Putney Heath, places already used for field-days.
Why, then, should not Richmond Park be used by the 'Volunteers ? It surely cannot be because it is held that soldiers would injure the Park, for soldiers, as we have said, use Wimbledon Commo —they were using it last Saturday and Monday—with- out doing any damage or causing offence to any one. They would, indeed, do less harm in Richmond Park than on the Common, for the area is so very much larger, and the need for men passing over the same places therefore very inucI less. Again, it cannot be that the rights of the general public have to be considered, and that they would be dis- turbed by Volunteers manoeuvring, in the Park. They are far more likely to be disturbed on Wimbledon Com- mon, and yet no complaints are made. Indeed, it is certain that the general public would greatly appreciate being able to watch suitable manceuvres being carried out in the Park. But if the reason that Volunteer brigades are not allowed to hold field-days in the Park—we presume that they are not allowed because we have never heard of a field-day being held in the Park—is not the fear of damage or of inconvenience to the public, what is it ? The present writer has heard it asserted that the reason for the exclusion is the risk of disturbing the game preserved in the Park. It is urged that if large bodies of men were allowed to tramp about the Park here, there, and every- where, as over-zealous skirmishers might be tempted 'to do, the pheasants would be frightened during the breeding and nesting seasons, and rendered wild in October. There are also a large number of rabbits in the Park, and their preservation would be rendered difficult if the whole place were overrun every Saturday, and during the summer possibly on most fine evenings, by swarms of Volunteers. Unscrupulous Volunteer privates might even kill rabbits during the long waits on a field-day. The deer, too, might be frightened, and the hinds seriously inconvenienced when they had their fawns with them. In a word, the maintenance of any- thing like a decent head of game would, it is declared, be quite incompatible with the use of the Park by Volun- teers. The soldiers should, it is contended, confine them- selves to places not used ever since Tudor times for the preservation of game. But though we have heard of these views being put forward, we refuse absolutely and entirely to believe that they have any weight in closing the Park to the use of Volunteers. What makes this certain is the fact that the Ranger, the Duke of Cambridge, was not only Commander-in-Chief of the British Army for some forty years, but that he was and is devoted to the interests of the Army, and most keenly anxious to further the interests of our soldiers, and to secure them opportunities for learning their work. It is simply incredible that he would have prevented the Volunteers from making use of Richmond Park for any selfish reasons, and in order to prevent the game being disturbed. To suggest such a thing of a gallant and patriotic soldier occupying a position of trust towards the King and country would be most unfair, and we refuse to entertain any such notion, except on much better evidence than has yet been produced. The mere fact that there is a certain amount of game in Richmond Park, and that soldiers are not allowed to be trained there, by no means proves that the troops are excluded because of the game. The game, too, in so urban an area must be quite a negligible quantity from the sportsman's point of view. The notion, then, that the Park is closed because of the game will, we believe, turn out to be entirely illusory, and it will be found that the Ranger is perfectly willing to place the whole of the Park which is not actually used. as garden-land at the disposal of the Volunteers.
But it may be asked, if that is so, how does it happen that the Park is, in fact, closed to troops, and we shall be told that out view as to the readiness of the Ranger to allow soldiers in the Park is mere theory with no substantial foundation. We can only say in reply that we suppose the reason for exclusion to be that which operates in so many similar cases. The Park, we presume, happens never to have been made available for the use of soldiers in the past, and therefore its custodians deem that they have no right without special authority from Parliament to change the conditions. We can quite well understand the Duke of Cambridge and those who advise him in such matters arguing that it is his business to carry on the Park on the lines on which it was carried on when its custody was placed in his hands, unless and until a competent authority requires a change to be made. If the King, in whose "body politic" the actual soil of the Park no doubt vests, and Parliament, which we believe votes the money for the up-keep of the Park, desire that there shall beau alteration in the conditions under which the Park is used, it is for them to say so clearly. Till they do, it is the Ranger's business to leave things in stain. If this is the position taken up by the Duke of Cambridgewe have no direct knowledge of any kind on the subject, and simply conjecture so from the facts (1) that the Park would. be of immense use to the troops, (2) that the Park is closed, and (3) that the Duke is a patriotic soldier— then it is evidently the business of Parliament to move in the matter. An Act of Parliament, which repre- sents the will of the Sovereign as well of the Lords and Commons, would appropriately make Richmond Park a training place for Volunteers. But no Government intro- duces a Bill into Parliament, however useful and innocent that Bill may be, unless there is the pressure of a clear demand for it. That being so, the Volunteers of the various Metropolitan regiments should ask the Members who sit for the constituencies from which the corps are drawn to obtain facilities for legislation. If the whole of the Metropolitan Members, firmly demanded that a Bill should be passed this Session opening Richmond Park to the training of Volunteers, the thing would assuredly be done. The Government could not possibly refuse a request so reasonable and so appropriate to the year of the King's Coronation. The King's Volunteer- soldiers ask to have better opportunities to learn the business of defending their King and their country, and what could be more appropriate than to grant them these opportunities in a year of national rejoicing ?
If such an Act is passed for making Richmond Park as available for use by soldiers as is Wimbledon Common, while at the same time not in any way excluding the general public, it is to be hoped that the whole of the area will be made available. If this is not done, there is sure to be a tendency to shut up the woods in the Park. Now we are most anxious that the woods should be open, and that it should be possible for officers to exercise their men in entering, occupying, and hold- ing woods on the one side, and for reconnoitring and attacking woods on the other. If only the green-grass portions of the Park were made available, the value of this noble open space for purposes of military training would be greatly curtailed. The soldiers will do no real damage to the woods by going through them, but they will obtain many very useful lessons. We also trust that if an Act such as we desire is passed, commanding officers who wish to train their men in night marches and night movements will be allowed by arrangement to enter and use the Park for training purposes after dark,—after, that is, the general public have been very properly excluded.
While asking that soldiers may not be excluded from Richmond Park, we must not be misunderstood to .be asking that the Park should be turned into an Aldershot or a Salisbury Plain. We do not suggest that any physical changes, great or small, should be made in the Park. The Park should remain just as it is, except that soldiers should be allowed to use it as they do Wimbledon Common. Nothing more is needed or should be asked for. We merely desire that Londoners should not lose their rights in Richmond Park because they have the honour to wear the King's uniform. At present a band of civilians may hire hacks at the livery stables, and may gallop about Richmond Park all day without let or hindrance. If the same men 'joined a Yeomanry corps or a mounted section of a Volunteer regiment and went in their uniforms to Richmond Park under their officers, they would only be allowed to pass through the Park by the • high road, and would be for- bidden to carry out any exercises. If that is the fact, as we are informed it is, we have surely reached the lowest depth of unreasonableness in our treatment of the military forces of the nation, and the sooner we pass an Act of Parliament to preserve the rights of men who wear the King's uniform in Richmond Park the better.
Previous page
