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THE STANDARD OF STRENGTH FOR OUR ARMY 263
as to form an effective part of the fighting line, which
it is the opinion apparently of the military authorities
they can become. At the least, the training of the
auxiliary forces advances the individuals so far that at
need the Regular Army has a certain amount of raw
material to draw upon which can be licked into shape
more quickly than.the ordinary recruits. One sugges-
tion I have to make on this head would be that to a
certain extent the Militia ~nd Yeomanry as paid forces
must be paid in proportion to the Regular Army ac-
cording to the work they have to do, and this may be
a serious matter if even a moderate standard of efficiency
is insisted upon. The great -danger of such auxiliary
forces is that they may exist on paper only. Another
suggestion is that conscription, while it may be found
inapplicable to the Regular Army, may be used both
to strengthen the auxiliary forces in numbers and to
make them genuinely efficient. It is not unfair in the
State to require that all young men as they come to
the age of twenty-two should have qualified themselves
to perform military service if they are medically fit,
and that if found not so qualified they should be com-
pelled to train in the Militia or Yeomanry for one or
two years so as to become qualified. Such an obligation
would stimulate volunteering or enlistment in the
Militia or Yeomanry, while giving the military au-
thorities a firmer hold over the Volunteers by their
being able to define effectively the qualification to per-
form military service. It would certainly be of great
advantage to the State to possess the large numbers of
trained men which such regulations would give them,
and to have Militia and Volunteers so far trained that
the entire Regular Army and Reserves could be spared
at need in some form or other for foreign service.
The conclusion, then, is that for the purpose of ob-
taining sufficient numbers the pay of the Regular Army
must be sensibly increased, and that the pay of Militia
and Yeomanry may also have to be increased in pro-
portion; but that the numbers of the auxiliary forces