BRITAIN'S SMALL ARMY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1927, 9 December 1913, Page 4

BRITAIN'S SMALL ARMY.

TOO FEW SOLDIERS. THE RECRUITING DIFFICULTY; The public arc continually reminded of the meat shortage of men which exists in tho Territorial Army, but as yet their attention lias not. been fully drawn to the even more serious 1 deficiencies in the Regular Army, writes Karl Percy in a special article in the "Daily Villi!.'' According to' the latest returns the Rosnlar Army is no less than 8000 under strength; that is, nearly 7 per cent, of the total number of men maintained at homo arc deficient. Tho reason for this stato of things is, as everyone knows, the prosperous condition of trade at the present time, but it is perhaps not generally realised how fllitirely dependent we are upon the stato of the labour market for recruits, nor bow seriously such a shortage affects the efficiency of the Army. Olir supply of recruits depends entirely upon tho continuance of unemployment, and according to a very eminent, authority on recruiting: "If over such a happy condition of trade should exist as to give enjoyment all round, rwrmts for tho Regular Army would fall eoiuo 70 per cent." Sir lan Hamilton savs: 'Tour-fifths ■come to us because they cannot get the most poorly paid job," and a recent report on the health of the Aftny says that tho large majority of tlioso who join arc growing lads, and well over 90 per cent, are out of work when enlisted. ' A " Blind Alloy." There arc a very small proportion, certainly not more thaft o per cent., who join from any love of soldiering, and perhaps another 0 per cent. enlist for family reasons, ha vine quarrelled with parents or been crossed in love. These are ilse constant factors with which recruiting ofliccrs have to deal, and when employment is easy ,to obtain they have to fall back on every sort of wile to hire that class which is not absolutely co'ropoUcd by hunger to try that last resource oi the destitute, tho' profession of amis. These being.a very limited number, however, tho result is. of course, a serious deficiency. Tho unpopularity of the Army is not tine to tho dislike- of Army life, but to: tho

fact that it is a "blind alley"-; it leads nowhere. -It loaves a man, after ho lias done seven or eight years' service, stranded, an unskilled workman, to seek employment in ail overstocked lahour market. Many return from India or some other foreign station ,at tho worst time of the year, when employis most difficult to obtain; their health is to some extent impaired by long residence in a hot climate, they have been accustomed to a comparatively luxurious life where they have no anxieties as to food and clothing, and then suddenly iind themselves left to their own resources with every possible combination of circumstances 1 against them. This, it must bo remembered, in tfio common lot of the soldier. The Army as a profession is even worse now than it was formerly, for only 10 per cent, of the men am now allowed to extend their service for pension. Inefficient Men, But the most serious feature of tho failure of our rccruiting iystwn is tho disastrous effect it has on the eii-ioioncy of tho Army. It must bo borne in mind, that no fewer than 30,0UU meu—that is, one-quarter of tiio total peace strength at- Home—are oither Biol;, or recruits, or men who have not auaiiiicd in musketry, or aro too young for sorvico abroad. Inis number has to bo deducted from tho number of men available for war. When to this is added a delicioney of 80UU, it brings the total number of iisefl'eotives to nearly a third of our nominal strength. This proportion is, of course, tar larger than that of any other nation, for not oul ydo wo recruit our soldiers almost exclusively from the most inefficient portion of our population, ineliicient physically and mentally, but we lake them at tho ago of eighteen, two years younger than tiie soldiers of any other nation. It has recently been decided that men of nineteen shall be available for sor« vice in Europe, but this is ouly another sacrifice of efficiency. It i* curious to compare tlieso desperato efforts to collect a few more men somehow, regardless of coiiseqaen-cos, with tlio strainiiw after cllicienoy in countries whore war is taken seriously. In Krance moil havo hitherto only been enlisted at the aso of and a proposal was made under tha new French Amy Hill to take them at twenty. Vehement opposition was met with from tho medical authorities, and eventually it was decided that enrolment should take placo at, twenty, but, only after the most rigorous medical conditions had been complied with.

Chaos at Mobilisation. But tiio jfull significanoo of these facts and Sicilies can only be grasped if wo roiiienilwr that our peaco strength is much lower. than that of any other Aniiy, and that '.vhen w-o mobilise the condition of our units'will be absolutely cliwtic. hi many IjaUniions tho ihhuijer of Kescsvists resjuired to till the lisniis will ho oU per cc-nt,, in some 70 per cent. The, divisions which took part in this year's manoeuvres ,wcro only half tho strength ct their war establisiiiiiciits. But oven s<;, a considerable proportion oi' tho men who took part in tJiom would nut be available for war on account of ago or of failure to qualify ill musketry, so that an averago battalion, so lar from taking tho iield as at manoeuvres with till the advantage of its season's training behind it, will bo hurried on active service, half its strength composed of Reservists unknown to their officers am! nonoonimissioned officers, many of those Reservists being married and having been for years m sedentary occupations, And if tii is is tho condition of battalions trained at AMorshot or Satis, bury Plain, what will it. bo with those recently returned from abroad, or which have been in stations where no sttcii training was available?

And "this while foreign countries aro !• shiviii;.; So <'lijiiiiwto"]{csi'rvistß -is iar aa possible, Uioir record beins invariably an evil oik'. Given time, they will aj=> <iuit thomsclves well, as they slid i» South Africa, hut for the conditions of a European war n'qnirin;' iminediaU 1 •mobilisation, the.v aro absolutely minit<>d. Under the new (Jer;uan Arnsv Bill the jiercentnuo of Hcservtsls will olilyhft twenty-six for those units whicn will talse the. li«ld lirst, and thntv-six for thy others. And {heir iicsemsts will only have been iibwnt Jvom in., colours i'or a foil - months, and in most oases will know their comrades and o!(icei's well. The shnrt;u;o in recruits is having tlie eiieet of im-ii-ns:;;;! the number «.{ ttescrvisis at tlic cxptw <>f tile serving soldier. In view oi what is oceiirrii!;.; ill ("leisu roiiilt lies, (lie (lis:i Irons results ; ; l oiir system must surely become plain oven In the nnist blind. There, only the best aro ucje.i on.iiiiji; here, anv inakcsiiilt satisfies the ignorance of our people and the criminal opportunism of our 11 blisters.