The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-05-31
THE BRITISH Army.
Its Recruiting and DesertSons, and Its TOts
Available Force.

Its Recruiting and DssertSons, and It's Total
Availabls Force.
Some very interesting statistics are pre-
sented in the recent official returns of the
condition of the British army. It appears
| that its aggregate strength on the first day
| of the present year was above $4,000, being
the largest ever known under the present
| establishment, and, in fact, exceeding by
| about 5000 the authorized maximum. It is
naturally impossible, with the constant re-
| cruiting and discharging, to keep the force
| always at the exact point set by law, but the
purpose doubtless is to keep the average for
the year close to the maximum, and, indeed,
it was 216, 400.
OF the $4,000 men thus spoken OF, about
105,500 were serving in Great Britain and
Ireland; 81, 500 in the colonies; 77,O0O in
India, and 5000 in Egypt The recruiting
for last year added $4,000 men to offset the
Deaths discharges, assertions, and so on.
London led off, as usual, with $3.50 recruits,
and then followed Manchester with nearly
1000, Glasgow with 922, Birmingham with
$50, and Dublin with TT. In the British
system of recruiting, as in ours, certain
physical standards are set, but special ="
enlistments are also allowed. Thus last
year no fewer than 3, 103 men were enlisted
who were under five feet four inches IN
hight, 4,078 who were under SO inches chest
measurement and ,667 who were under the
minimum standard of weight. Still, there
were fewer of such special" enlistments
than during the year before, which shows
that recruiting was favorable. And for the
first time in very many years the infantry OF
the line was recruited beyond its authorized
strength.
The assertions for the year were little
more than 1890, and the previous year they
had been 1862. These figures appear to us
very small compared with those of our own
army on an establishment of about 2o,O0O
men. However, the percentage of desertions
TO the number of recruits enlisted was in the
British army 1877 last year against 1l.9 the
year before. 1t is rather difficult to trace
the exact reasons for such variations.
| An important institution in the British
army, which has no analogy in our own,
although a bill in Congress seeks to create
one, is the reserve. There were 1888 men
transferred from the army to the army re-
serve in 1891, and 17,751 in 1892, with but a
| few hundred less last year. The total num-
| Der on Jan. / last seems to have been SO,53O.
| The militia enrolled at the inspection dates
last year numbered nearly 124 700, while the
yeomanry were nearly 10,400 strong. The
| 227 900, and the militia reserve 81 900. The
army reserve has been continually incTeas-
ing for the last 20 years, but from special
causes there may be slackening in this in
crease next year. However, a permanent
| first-class reserve of between 10000 and
$4,000 men can be counted on. Out of the
militia many men Joined the regular army,
navy and marines. The yeomanry cavalry
has been decreasing for some years. but the
volunteer force continues to show an up
| ward tendency.
According to the London Standard at no
previous time has there been 80 large force
of enrolled men available for service in case
of need. First comes the regular army, with
nearly 100000 of all ranks. These could be
| Immediately supplemented by nearly 10000
army reserve men and 10000 militia reserve,
making in all 330, 900 mensavailable for serv-
ice abroad. Almost exactly the same num-
| Der would then remain enrolled for home
| defense, namely, 22So00 volunteers, $4,000
militia and 10000 yeomanry, making 332,
| 900. Thus the aggregate for foreign and
home service in case of emergency would
| be 662 900 men.