THE BRITISH ARMY OFFICER.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 123, 14 March 1901, Page 1

THE BRITISH ARMY OFFICER.

To suggest that the Britls,}| Army oi fleer is not always a model of all the military is ruling dangerously near- tQ sacrilege ; to go eveu further express publicly opinions astQ tha best method of insuring a general improvement in the standard, iji an impertinence which wUI Uft

w»t»xr<Jed .with regiments whose officers consider themselves as possessed of q •» certain divinely-descended im» peccability both professionally ami socially. Yet Mr Churchill, ’ who, it most h$ admitted, has had exceptional opportunities for the formation p| opinions upon the subject, doej not hesitate to point to spots upon the military sail, aud to suggest methods for their removal, Rivalry and responsibility h§ regards as the two great which should be brought into thq lives and training of pur officers, The scope and scale of compes tition, he admits, would have .tq bo judiciously restricted,soaa noJ| to deal a blow at discipline, bqfc, with this reservation, he urges strongly that the principles >| selection in the army jean bfl approximated to ifie prevailing in a great business house, with advantage to the Stqte, For pm poses of action, as oppose*! to purposes of rejection, £9 regards a man of thirty as at hd| best for fighting purposes, £in<{ thinks that if heemuot command a brigade at that age he vyjll neyj3|i bo fit to do so. Many through the disability of youth, have found rank come to them only in time to lament with Lorq Beaconsfield “ Power has come tq me too late.” A positive system of selection of the fittest instead of the present negative one ou rejection of the unfit wouß| revolutionise the service anc| create at first unending hearts burning", but it would result in thg long run in our army being infinitely more effectively officered. The educating force q| responsibility is another featurq of ’army ,training which fljp Chtifchii'l tiiinks is hot sufficiently recognised. Every skilled work; man spoils matefial in his apprenticeship, and only gains ths comparative infallibility' of experience by paying dearly fqr JIL What holds good in trade good in the professions, even th’a(j of the soldier ? and the early mistakes which the burdeq h| responsibility would carry might not improbably ' obviate serious diaaster'in emergency.