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THE STANDARD OF STRENGTH FOR OUR ARMY 253
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the 155,000, we get no n. ~ than 65,000, in place of
the 110,000 which is the rnlo, .. llU'- number we ought
to have according to the abov~est1mate. But this by
the way. I am only calling attention for!'(\ V' - l'lent
to a cardinal ambiguity in the Army statistics which is
apt to confuse the amateur when politicians are hand-
ling the figures, not for the purpose of enlightenment,
but in order to throw dust in his eyes .
•
N ext, what should be the peace footing of the Army
outside the United Kingdom? Here again it must be
remembered that, for the ordinary objects in view,
peace footing and war footing are identical expressions,
as at the outbreak of war there will be no time, and
there may not be time for a certain period afterwards,
to call out new forces and send them to the threatened
points.
Answering this question, what we find is that, volun-
tarily or involuntarily, many parts of the Empire are
capable of a great deal of self-defence, and do in fact
raise forces which can be useful not only on their own
territories but elsewhere. Canada and Australia are
especially useful in this respect; but there are local
defence forces in some of our Crown Colonies as well,
while even settlements like Hong Kong and Singapore
provide in part for their own defence. The strength al-
ready added to the Empire in this way is enormous,
and with proper organization would be incalculable. It
renders secure, with little or no Imperial effort, a great
many commercial centres. dep6ts. and coaling stations
throughout the Empire, and in a serious struggle. while
we are preponderant at sea, gives us a large area
from which to draw men and supplies. But the Im-
perial Government itself must contribute to the defence.
The garrisons are a very serious matter. Apart from
India. we maintain during peace about 55,000 troops
in our dependencies, including the garrisons of Gibral-
tar, Malta, Hong Kong, Capetown and Simon's Bay.
etc., etc., and no one can say the numbers are too