A CITIZEN ARMY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 72, 25 November 1913, Page 4

A CITIZEN ARMY.

hi a recent lettw to the press Lord Methuen writes u As regards the! vexed question of compulson training,l so far as J could ascertain the general feeling, I should not he inclined to think Britain would—at any rate, at present—be prepared to make so radical a change as regards adults; but I am convinced that' the country would! accept now, if only the two parties j would agree, compulsory cadet train-! ing from twelve to eighteen years of j age. 1 know this is not all some of usj would wish, but it is the most we eauj expect to obtain, and would, I believe, in case of a national danger, prove the salvation of the Territorial Army. You may say that granted the proposal to make the Territorial Force efficient by means of compulsory cadet j training, still that must he a matteri of four or live years hence. Do you for one moment imagine that the pro-j gramme of the National Serivce League | would, under the most favorable ctr-j cumstances, come into force one dayj sooner? 1 do not enter into the lists as a champion for compulsory or volun-i tary service; both have their advan-1 tages. I do champion the Territorial; Army, and I admire the fine spirit: that has kept it alive under very depressing circumstances. I have not| any intention to gloss over its lack; of efficiency or want of numbers. But unless the Government gives the Secretary for War the firm support he has a right to look for no one can expect the country to treat the Territorial Army with the respect it must have shown to it it it is to he elficieut.”