A.—2

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12. The Inspector-General of the Home Forces will submit an annual report to the Army Council by the Ist November in each year. 13. Official communications in writing between the Army Council and the Inspector-General of the Home Forces will be signed by, or addressed to, the Secretary of the War Office, and will not emanate from, or be addressed to, individual members of that Council, with whom, however, and especially with the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, he should be in close touch. It is clear that effective and harmonious working of the inspection department can be attained only by a mutual understanding between the Army Council and the Inspector-General. To promote this object it may be desirable that selected officers of the General Staff should occasionally be detached to accompany the Inspector-General of the Home Forces during his inspections, or when he is conducting manoeuvres or staff rides. Such officers would, for the time, act as members of his staff. 14. The Inspector-General of the Home Forces will be a member of the Selection Board. The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in the Mediterranean and Inspector-General of the Oversea Forces. 15. For the colonial administration of Gibraltar and Malta the respective Governors will be solely responsible, and will communicate direct with the Colonial Office as heretofore. 16. As regards Egypt and the Sudan, all civil and political matters will, as heretofore, be dealt with by His Majesty's Agent and Consul-General in direct communication with the Foreign Office; and as regards the administration of the Sudan and of the Egyptian and Sudanese Forces, the Governor-General and Sirdar will be directly responsible to His Majesty's Agent and Consul-General. 17. As regards the British troops in Gibraltar, Malta, Egypt, the Sudan, Cyprus, and Crete, all matters of local military administration will be dealt with by the Governors of Gibraltar and Malta, the General Officer Commanding in Egypt, and the Governor-General of the Sudan, in direct communication with the War Office, except that such questions of discipline as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in the Mediterranean may determine will be submitted to him for consideration and orders, or, if necessary, for reference to the War Office. 18. Questions connected with strategy, defence, training, and tactics will be dealt with by the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, in communication on the one hand with subordinate military authority, and on the other with the War Office. 19. In Egypt and the Sudan questions of strategy and defence can seldom be dissociated from questions of policy, and consequently, in dealing with such questions, it will be mutually advantageous for the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in the Mediterranean and His Majesty's Agent and Consul-General in Egypt to consult each other before the former lays his views on strategy and defence before the War Office, and the latter his views on those matters of policy which have a military bearing before the Foreign Office. 20. In Malta, and elsewhere within the area of the Mediterranean command, the King will be represented on all occasions by the Governors of Gibraltar and Malta, the Agent and ConsulGeneral in Egypt, the Governor-General of the Sudan, the High Commissioner of Cyprus, and the Consul-General in Crete, respectively; except that on the occasion of military reviews, parades, and inspections, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in the Mediterranean will, when present, have precedence over those of the foregoing high officials who, being general officers on the Active List, are under his orders in their military capacity, and. he will take the salute as officer in chief command. 21. In addition to the duties within the area of the Mediterranean command specified in paragraphs 17 to 20, inclusive, the inspectorial functions of the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in the Mediterranean and Inspector-General of the Oversea Forces will cover those portions of the Empire outside the United Kingdom, other than in India, where troops under the control of the Home Government are stationed. He must form a judgment on the efficienoy of officers and men, on the handling of troops, on the standard and system of training, on the suitability of equipment, and generally on all that affects the readiness of the forces for war. 22. For the proper discharge of his functions it is necessary that, under instructions from the Army Council, the Inspector-General of the Oversea Forces should — (a) By means of inspection, ascertain whether the training, instruction, and preparation of the Oversea Forces for war, as laid down by regulations, are fully carried out in the various commands, and whether a' uniform standard of efficiency is attained; (b) advise as to changes of regulations bearing on (a); (c) keep the Army Council informed of the state of the Oversea Forces as regards both personnel and equipment. 23. The functions of the Inspector-General of the Oversea Forces should be exercised with due regard to a general system of inspection applicable to the whole Army, this system, as carried out consecutively by Regimental Commanders, Commanders of Brigades, Genera] Officers Commanding, and the Inspector-General himself being of a progressive nature. In every case the object of an inspection is to ascertain the results achieved by the officer responsible for the efficiency of the unit or body of troops concerned. It is the duty of an Inspecting Officer to bring omissions and defects to notice, but this should be done without fettering the initiative or trenching on the responsibility of the Commanding Officer in regard to the training of ;his men. Purely formal inspections are of little value, while the rehearsal of an inspection by the commander of a unit or body of troops about to be inspected defeats the object of the inspection, and is therefore prohibited. 24. By the Ist November in each year the Inspector-General of the Oversea Forces will submit for the approval of the Army Council a programme of his inspections during the following year beginning on the Ist April. Long or formal notice,of the dates of the proposed inspections need not necessarily be given to the local military authorities.