The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-04-10 00:00:00

Tthri STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

A NEW SYSTEM FOR RECRUITS.

Mr. Macgregor, the chairman of the industrial
Schools' Committee, London School Board, read a
paper on Monday evening at the Royal United Ser-
vice Institution, Whitehall-yard, London, on "Plans
for training Schoolboys for Enlistment in the Army,
either as boys or as soldiers." Major-General Taylor,
C. 8., Inspector-General of Recruits, psesided.
The broad• principle advocated by Mr. Macgregor
was that boys could and should be trained for service
in the Army as they are now trained for service at sea.
The value of any opinion on such a proposal, he said,
depended on the critic's knowledge of the number and
kind of recruits wanted, the number and kind of boys
available, and the comparative cost and value of such
boys when trained into soldiers To fill up the comple-
ment of our Army last year 20.000 men were obtained,
but under the new system of short service double
that number might be wanted yearly. Out of that
number it is admitted many were inferior in physique,
and not of a material out of which noncommis-
sioned officers should be made. Mr. Macgregor re-
ferring to the speech of the Secretary for War during
the debate on the Army Estimates, and also to the re-
Port of the Governor of Cork Prison, in which attens
tion was drawn to the number of tradesmen who had
been convicted as deserters, admitted the difficulty of
obtaining recruits above twenty yeara of age while the
labour market was in its present state, and considered
that that difficulty was owing to no fault of those
whose business it is to care for the condition and well-
being of the soldier. Two remediea, in his opinion,
presented themselves; the one, compulsory service,
after the manner of the conscription of the Continent
—a remedy which, however desirable it might be
held, could scarcely be considered as probable, or
even possible, at the present time; the other, an im-
provement and extension in the mode of recruiting.
War, he said, was a business; but it was the only
business in which we engaged wherein we went so
late into the market, as though crowds were press-
ing for admission into the Army, and we had only to
state our wants to get what we wanted, no use was
made of any extraneous assistance. Neither the pulpit,
the platform, nor the Press, nor any of the popular
channels of intelligence, were enlisted in our service.
The recruiting sergeant was well enough, but the
civilian who was well disposed to the Army was far
better. The man who knew from personal experience
what a soldier was, and who, having served his time,
had retired into civil life again, could do more good than
a recruiting sergeant, provided his service had been
good service, for, if otherwise, he naturally vilified as
much as possible the profession which he had disgraced,
while the ,deserter who had escaped punishment was
but a proof of the easiness of desertion. Increase of
pay, too, might do much, on the principle that every-
thing could be bad for money; but, then, the question
was where and for whom was that increase to be
made? Was it not better, he asked, instead of buying
the worthless lad of no character, or purpose, or
morals, to buy him before he became such, as a willing
lad—to spend our money, in short, in training, not in
punishing him? There were at present six sources of
supply open to us, but still unused. These
were reformatories, industrial, elementary, and
workhouse schools, refuges, and all other boys not
included under these heads. After entering at
some detail into statistics to show the number of boys
that, in his opinion, could be obtained for his purpose
from these sources, Mr. Macgregor went on to say
that he had addressed a circular to all these establish-
ments asking for opinions on the subject. The number
available, he was told, was not inconsiderable, but the
number actually obtained was lamentably small. In
some cases the managers objected to the boys going
from their care into the Army ; in others, the parents
objected; but he was told no desire for a soldier's life
existed on the part of the boys themselves; then they
were below the age or the standard of height required.
But the most serious objection of all was that by
the Regulations no recruits could be taken who
had come direct from a reformatory. A week
or two of idleness, in their old haunts possibly,
among their old companions, obviated this objec-
tion, and the consequence was that either the
recruit, when received, had in a great measure
lost the good he had gained in the reformatory,
or, by telling a lie, he was admitted where honest lads
were refused admittance. The plan that Mr. Mac-
gregor had to propose was that such lads as were
desirous of following the profession, but not yet of the
required age, should be regularly trained, as lads now
are trained for sailors on hoard our training ships.
From 15 to 17 should be the limit of age, and as boys
of that age may, perhaps have grown tired of the name
of school, he proposed that the establishment should
be called the -Youth's Brigade or Battalion, the Recruit
Corps, or by some similar designation. The number
should be limited to 500, drawn from all sources. In-
dustrial and artisan work, land culture, so as to teach
the use of pick and spade, and work in special trades
should be cultivated. Prizes should be given for pro-
ficiency in all these branches, and in the others which
go to the ordinary curriculum of school life, and pocket
money allowed in proportion to the earnings of the
pupils. Full and undress uniform should be worn, the
system of education should be both secular and
religious, and all importance paid to the cultivation of
a good moral tone. A sketch of this proposed esta-
blishment had been forwarded to the heads of the
various schools before mentioned, and though some had
taken exception to minor points of detail, some again
Lo the general plan, t)se majority had pronounced
,strongly in its favour. The extra cost of such a recruit
as against those obtained under the present system,
after six months' service, might be set at £lO. Why,
asked Mr. Macgregor in conclusion, when we cheer-
fully give £6O to get a good sailor, and when it is pro-
posed to give £3O, in the new Merchant Shipping Bill,
for a good merchant sailor, should we grudge E,lO or
even £2O for a good soldier?

kindness in accompanying the committee up.on that
tour of inspection and the interesting explanations he
had given.

The Builder, speaking of the White Tower and its
stores, says
"This Tower is, indeed, fall o romance, and we know not
how to say enough in a short space about it, for at every turn
there is a something, and the wondering gazer can but wish
that the spirit of 'improvement' would but now and then
pease, and let things alone ; here, especially, for you cannot
but wish, though so vainly, for the power to restore this
White Tower, and thus to see it as it priestly architect
Gundulph, of Rochester, left it, for it is right full of pitiable
and cruel mutilations. The largest room in it is in the upper
floor, and was, in the time of its pride, the great Council
Chamber of England's Kings when they held their 'Court'
at the Tower. Here in this room did the Council
assemble when the Lord Protector, Richard of Gloucester,
condemned Lord Hastings to instant execution in front of
St. Peter's Chapel. A scene only to be pictured. It was
certainly at one time acted. This room, so full of memories,
together with the Banqueting-room, is row well nigh choked
up with 'stores' of arms, weapons, and warlike implements
arranged in groups and devices, so as to resemble flowers,
and so on. It shows how far it is possible to misuse, and
put out of sight, a room of the past, and to blot out its his-
torical memories. War stores, let us add, are most injudi-
ciously and needlessly deposited in every part of the White
Tower, the 'Armoury' only excepted. We would hope that
the authorities will take it to heart, and find more appro-
priate arms stores."