the trained man for the twenty-eight days in the year during which he attends drill. In the case of men who have served twelve months in a ship of war, and have qualified as A.B., or in gunnery, the retaining fee of 61. might be doubled in amount. The pensions of reserve men should be payable at an earlier age than sixty. Attendance at manœuvres when ordered should be compulsory. If an increase were granted in the annual retainer, the conditions of service should be clearly defined, and strictly enforced. The pay should be sufficient to secure a ready performance of all the duties required.

Turning to the officers of the reserve, favourable opinions as to their ability have been already quoted from the public speeches of the First Lord of the Admiralty. His memorandum accompanying the Navy Estimates for the present year gives evidence of the confidence reposed by the Admiralty in the mercantile marine as a reserve for the supply of officers to the fleet. It is proposed to increase the executive officers' list by 100, making a total of 1,400 officers. The success which has marked the Admiralty scheme for obtaining 100 lieutenants and sub-lieutenants from the mercantile marine affords an illustration of the resources we possess in the mercantile marine. The terms were liberal, volunteers came forward with alacrity, and thus a temporary deficiency was promptly made good.

The number of those on the active list who have served for twelve months in the navy, or are now under training, includes 114 lieutenants, 65 sub-lieutenants, and 4 midshipmen. As in the case of the men, so with the officers, the reserve would be far more efficient if training in the navy was compulsory. Every midshipman in the Royal Naval Reserve should be considered a probationer until he has served twelve months in the navy and a favourable report has been made as to his professional qualifications and general fitness. The rule should be that all officers of the reserve should be entered as midshipmen. The maximum age of entry has been lowered under recent regulations to 35 for lieutenants and 30 for sub-lieutenants. It may be desirable to keep the door open for officers of standing in the mercantile marine to join the reserve, but the numbers should be strictly limited.

And here I would repeat some observations which have been previously offered in the pages of the Naval Annual. The selection of young officers for first entry is made too much at haphazard. The Admiralty should be assisted in the sifting of applications by committees of shipowners at the principal ports, who should see every candidate personally, and report as to his probable fitness. Their co-operation is urgently needed, not only in the selection of officers, but in the negotiations of the terms and conditions of their service; in advising as to rates of pay and allowances; in framing regulations; and generally in making naval service popular with the

merchant officers, and in keeping the two great branches of our marine in touch with one another.

The arguments for the payment of premiums for apprentices to the Naval Reserve apply not less to the case of the officers. They should be trained in sailing ships, and their education when at sea should not be neglected. Some payment should be made from public funds to shipowners who undertake to carry midshipmen of the Naval Reserve in sailing ships selected by the Admiralty as specially suitable for the purpose.

In addition to the reserves for the navy which can be raised at home, we have large undeveloped resources in the colonies. Canada has a fishing population numbering some 50,000 men. During the severe winter the ports in the Gulf of St. Lawrence could be visited by gunboats, on which instruction could be given. A naval reserve of 5,000 men could be raised in Canada.

In Australia it has been estimated that we have 5,000 fishermen of excellent quality. In Victoria the Naval Brigade could be largely increased if funds were available. In New South Wales the Naval Brigade has a strength of 350 men, the great majority being timeexpired men-of-war's men. Steps should be taken to form a local branch of the Royal Naval Reserve with a strength of perhaps 1,000 men. Australia possesses commodious harbours, strongly fortified, with abundant supplies of coal. If we were able to supply men to fleets in need of reinforcement, the value of Australia as a naval base would be greatly enhanced. Men should be entered for the Naval Reserve in the colonies on the same conditions as in the mother country. They should be under the control of the Admiralty, their pay being a charge on the British Navy Estimates. Naval Reserve drill ships should be established at Sydney, Newcastle, and Melbourne. The Victorian shipowners have undertaken to give every facility for attendance at drill to the men in their employ. In the discussion on Admiral Bowden Smith's paper, recently read at the United Service Institution, Sir Henry Norman, while regretting that comparatively few seamen were to be found in Australia, expressed the view that it would be desirable to have a training ship in Australian waters under the control of the Royal Navy, on which boys might be received. It would be well to recruit for the navy in the colonies, and thus to make the service in a larger sense than at present an Imperial force.

Naval opinion is unanimous as to the great value of the marines. With the disappearance of masts and sails this amphibious force should form a portion of the complements of ships of war. As it has been already stated, a seaman costs 300l., while the marine artillery man can be trained for 100l., and the marine infantry man for a yet smaller sum. While the marines formed 31 per cent. of the personnel of the navy in the great war, at the present time the proportion has

fallen to 17 per cent. The establishment for this year stands at 17,500 officers and men. Captain Eardley-Wilmot would raise the strength to 20,000. Captain J. M. Rose, R.M.A., another competitor for the gold medal of the Royal United Service Institution, asks for 35,000 men.

Nearly 30 per cent. of the marines take their discharge after twelve years' service. From these men a reserve should be formed. A plan has recently been put forward by Major Gatliff. Dividing the men into two classes, to the first class, all of whom would be under 40 years of age, and should be called out for drills, he would give a retainer at the rate of 6d. a day. The second-class reserve, though not called out for drills, would be liable to war service up to the age of 50.

Behind the marines a corps of volunteers should be enrolled for the sea service. The Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers, to whom in the early stage of the movement the present writer endeavoured to give such support as he could both in Parliament and by personal service in the corps, were not a perfect success. They were full of enthusiasm for the navy, and worked the heaviest guns at which they could be drilled on board the President in brilliant style, but their aspirations were too strongly directed on nautical lines. Although not sailors, they desired to be classed with the blue-jackets of the fleet rather than with the marine artillery and the marines. This ambition at length created an impossible situation, and, on the recommendation of the late Sir George Tryon, the volunteers were disbanded. If a judicious appeal were made by the Admiralty, the force might be revived as a reserve to the marine artillery. There is good ground for confidence that from the class originally enrolled, and from the mechanics in the private engineering works and shipbuilding yards of the country, a body of men capable of rendering good service might be raised.

It would have been satisfactory to be able to combine with the manning of the navy some plan for the social improvement of seamen. It is clear that the men engaged in the carrying trade across the ocean in sailing ships have not shared in the advance which it is so gratifying to observe in other employments. The poor remuneration of men serving before the mast is due in no small degree to recklessness and improvidence. Men with empty pockets and no credit must accept the first employment which offers. In the young seamen taking his holiday on shore it would be vain to look for the steady and well-ordered habits of men of older age, living in comfortable homes. It is difficult to raise our seamen to the standard of life socially and materially to which by their great services to the community they are entitled. The improvement which all must desire to see in a class which renders indispensable services and suffers exceptional hardships, can only partially be effected by

legislation and the aid of Government. No public administration can bring those influences to bear which alone will work for the highest good. In every sailor's home we need a Florence Nightingale :

'I see her upon nearer view,
A Spirit, yet a Woman too.'

Miss Weston has done a noble work for the Royal Navy. Other good women, ministering angels in the truest sense, have laboured, if less conspicuously, not less earnestly, for the merchant service. The gratifying success of the memorial building erected by the present writer in the East of London is largely due to a little company of ladies of infinite tact and high purpose, who have devoted themselves to the cause of the sailor. More such workers are needed. The field is open in every seaport.

BRASSEY.

OUR RESERVES for MANNING THE FLEET

II

(A CRITIQUE OF LORD BRASSEY)

THE admirable and lucid paper on this subject from the pen of Lord Brassey cannot fail to do an immense deal of good. The questions which he touches upon are all vital ones, and no man is more competent than he to express an opinion which naval officers and politicians should regard with deference and attention. Lord Brassey was the first man who thoroughly took up the Naval Reserve question on modern lines, and he has, therefore, more than ordinary claims upon us who have followed up his good work; and if I differ in some details from his views, my criticisms are only intended to help on the cause he has so much at heart. It is only by carefully considering the views of different minds, each looking at the subject from different aspects, that authority can ever hope to draft a successful scheme, which embodies the best and eliminates the weakest points of the plans of experts. It is a matter for regret that at so critical a period in the history of our Naval Reserves and the mercantile marine, Lord Brassey is not here to press his valuable views upon responsible authority.

Lord Brassey has quoted the First Lord of the Admiralty to show that authority considers 'a Reserve necessary for the Navy,' and that with regard to our manning requirements beyond 106,000 active service, long service ratings, we must depend upon our Reserve.' It is true, that authority has at last realised something of the serious nature of the situation, but the fault which has (and which still exists) characterised the treatment of the Reserve question in official circles is an apparent inability to realise the tremendous, overwhelming, and stupendous importance of having adequate Reserves for the fleet. The efficient manning of the fleet in war time will entirely depend on the Reserves. No military commander would ever dream of putting the worst trained and most undisciplined men in his Reserve. What is the object of a Reserve? (1) To fill up the gaps caused by losses in battle, i.e. to have discipline, courage, and confidence, knowing they are taking the place of men who have fallen before a foe which has