The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-28 00:00:00

him with not having complied with certain require-
ments, under the Metropolitan Buildings Act, in
the erection of a green-house or peach•house, at his
residence, the Roccles, Norwood, having received
the usual notice from Mr. Badger, the district sur-
veyor.

From the evidence of Mr. Badger it appeared
that, on the 23d November last he discovered a
building erected against the northern boundary
wall of Sir J. Paxton's garden, the building mea-
suring 60 feet in length, and 10 feet wide, and
which abutted on to the road leading to Sydenham.
The complaint was, that being a building it had
neither a wall at the ends, nor on the southern side.
Mr. Traill inquired in what manner it was in-
tended to be proved that the erection in question
was a building within the meaning of the act.
Mr. Badger replied that it was fixed to a plateau
the wall.

Mr. Traill—How do you know it is a fixture—in
what manner is it attached ?
Mr. Badger said he could not say in what man-
ner it was fixed, whether with nails or screws, but
he knew it was a fixture, and was furnished with
a furnace and flue, and was heated by means of
hot-water pipes.
Sir Joseph Paxton, who produced a model of the
erection in question, said he had no desire whatever
to evade any requirements contained in the Metro-
politan Buildings Act, but he appeared there that
day to contend that the. structure in question was
not a building within the meaning of the act. The
fact was, the structure was an invention of his own
for the purpose of being placed in gentlemen's
gardens, with properly arranged modes of fixtures,
and which could be taken to pieces and removed to
another part of the ground in an hour or two.
It was here shown, by the model produced, that
the erection could be speedily taken to pieces, and
as speedily refitted by any ordinary workman.
Mr• Traill said that Mr. Badger had altogether
failed in his evidence to show that the structure in
.question was a building ; in fact, when asked by
what means it was a fixture, he could give no other
evidence, which, indeed, was no evidence, than that
he knew it was a fixture, but he could not describe
in what manner. The summons would, therefore,
be dismissed.

ME MILITIA.

Mr. Sidney Herbert's speech on introducing a
bill for the amendment of the Militia Acts is the
careful investigation of a problem the importance
of which is at length fully appreciated. How are
we to extract out of our population all the military
strength which it naturally supplies, and give it its
requisite training and organization ? There can be
no doubt as to the richness of the stratum, and it
is our fault if we do not get at the ore, reduce it
to metal, and convert it, if necessary, to useful
purposes. The Registrar General tells us that
the Census of next year will probably give us more
than four millions and a half of an age to bear
arms, and, with all the deductions we can rea-
sonably make for the various causes and reasons of
incapacity, it is very strange if we cannot get as
many fighting men as we want out of so many Eng-
lishmen, Irishmen, and Scotchmen. There are more
deductions to be made here than in any other coun-
try,owing to the spreading and enterprising habits
of our race; yet a man has only to use his eyes, and
he will feel that he may pick up any number of men
fit and ready to fight for England in some way or
other. But we have to contend with difficulties. It
is out of the question to set to work like France or
Austria, and attempt to raise a regular army of
450,000 soldiers, which would be our proportion,
bound to the service for a certain number of years.
The navy, the merchant service, the colonies, and
home industry have been beforehand with us. 1% hen
we confine the question to the soldiers at home,
available for our defence, we have further to deduct
the large portion of our army in India and other
distant dependencies. We have only about a hun-
dred thousand soldiers at home, including all the
depots ; and this is quite as much as we can expect
to maintain, as it is considerably in advance of our
normal state for many years before the Russian
War. But, as this is plainly not enough for pos.,
sible emergencies, we are driven to a more expan-
sive and heterogeneous kind of armament than our
" military" neighbours. We must be all things to
all men, and have soldiers of all kinds, adapted to
every variety of class and circumstances. We must
give openings for those who can devote two or
three years to the service, for those who can spare
a few weeks in the year, for those who can spare a
few hours in the week, and even for those who will
simply pledge themselves to be forthcoming on a
serious emergency. This, at least, is what we are
doing at this moment, and the result is numerically
a wonderful success. We gave the figures the other
day, and will repeat them. Taking the above
classification, the Embodied Militia is for those
who will not be bound for a long term, nor for
roreigu service ; and it musters 10,91 t. The iiis-
embodied Militia affords a wider and easier op-
portunity to those who have other occu-
pations, and are not perhaps their own masters,
but can give a month or so at a convenient time of
the year. It has on its rolls 52,899, though, as Mr.
S. Herbert tells us, that figure will not bear exami-
nation. The yeomanry cavalry is a higher class of
the same kind of men, and its effectives are stated
to be 15,000. The enrolled pensioners are already
trained, and undertake to be ready in the hour of
danger. They amount to 15,000. The comes the
last class in our enumeration—the volunteer rifles
and artillery, of whom we saw a magnificent dele-
gation in Hyde-park. They are reckoned at 122,367.
Not one of these estimates makes large demands on
our faith, but by these easy steps we mount up to
the very satisfactory total of 323,259—independent
of all our soldiers abroad ; independent too, as we
believe, of immese numbers of civilians at home
ready to fight for their country, and able to do good
service.
Of all these classes that which is most in ques-
tion, and in fact under change, is the embodied
militia, numbering, as we have said, a little under
16,000. These men cost as much as the line ; they
make too just as good soldiers, but they are not
available for foreign service ; it is a difficult task to
select the right kind of officers for them ; and the
chief use which has hitherto been made of these
regiments, as feeders for the line, is one that de-
stroys them as a militia, leads to a fearful amount
of desertion and fraud, and even infects the disci-
pline of the regiments of the line brought into
contact with them. These are evils too great to
be borne, even though the embodied militia is a
form of service which has its conveniences to good
soldiers and honest men as well as to the contrary.
But it is argued that if a man is willing to serve in
a camp or a barrack:for several years, a very little
inducement will bring him into the line, for it
cannot be supposed that an ordinary Englishman
sets much store on the militiaman's privilege of
not fighting except against an actual invader.
The amount of bounty lost by these men
deserting and enlisting in the line, or perhaps
going off altogether, is a serious item in our mili-
tary expenditure. Then comes the difficulty about
officers. The very notion of the militia is that it
is the indigenous force of the country, officered by
men enjoying influence and virtual command over
the feelings of the people. They may or may not
be country gentlemen, of old families and landed
property ; but they ought to be men holding real
sway by virtue of their position and character.
These, however, are generally the men most tied to
their homes, and least able to reside for a couple of
years in a colony or at a camp. Had they desired
this sort of life, and been freed from home duties,
they would2have gone into the line. The conclu-
sion is that it Is difficult to officer these regiments
rightly. Again, there can be no permanent reason
for embodying one regiment of militia aid not
another; so that under the existing system there
must always be changes equivalent to the creation
and disbanding of effective corps. These changes
are costly, inconvenient, and as wasteful of men as
of money. The very fact of an embodied militia
implies the useless character of the disembodied,
which is a charge and trouble to the country with-
out any equivalent benefit.
The present proposition is so to amend the gene-
ral militia act as to make all the militia equally
serviceable. It is proposed to raise the militia in
England from the nominal force of 80,000 to
120,000 effectives, and to raise the Scotch and
Irish militias from 5,000 and 15,000 to double those
numbers. With all the recent experience of the
laxity of the service, it implies some faith in the
power of administration to hope for anything bet-
ter; but Mr. Sidney Herbert speaks with confidence.
To prevent double personation he proposes that all
the regiments shall practise at the same time. To
secure good training, every regiment is toshadvetabne
adjutant and two sergeants ho have
mfpianorse
school at Hythe. Besides various
pro-
visions, it is intended that the mlititarai oning. Theadjoining
counties may be amalgamated fori
depots for stores are to be builto b
et. In this case,y
n counties, if they
desire, and rented by Government.
thioiewbevoeilrd,hiltgissidioeusild be approved
that theedy siteb an and design
county
adedeo.t.
as
well
with
been
en
ty
fa es n a
sib l, depotand f cannot ana loutsshould
therefore alwaysb e left to the engineers,
be
court. The whole of the militia, disembodied
architect, as if ithwaveerebeaenn almshousefunished
o r a
theco E
g.
field
that is now wanted is to secure the
ld abnoddiaeldl,
attendance of those who are on the books, and in
respect of whom a considerable outlay has
made. If the principle of the general militia, as a
local force, under officers of local influence and
knowledge, be faithfully carried out there must be
an end of the systematic desertion and non-attend-
ance, which make the whole force little better than
a delusion and a scandal. These are not, or at least