The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-12

AAAS' iSSAhS pS tHiS tlLi6 the only Oi- ficer left in his company, he rallied it on the slope of Hill 70. and held his position with great bravery and re- source.
 Captain Kearsley, Welsh Fusiliers, al- though severely wounded early in the lighting, continued at the front of his @ men ana maintained his position until he had been hit seven times.
 
 army. The various commanders may not use the usual stars and crowns to indi- cate their rank. That is shown by vari- ous convolutions of braid on their sleeves
 bVeh these restrictions are not all ine grey green uniformAmay not be worn except when the volunteer is ac- tually on duty. A volunteer in uniform who enters theatre, a restaurant or any other place of public resort. or even travels on a street car or a bus in uniform, is liable to be stopped bv the provost marshal and ordered home 10 change into multi. Volunteers have actually been ordered out of theatres and music halls and in good many restaurants and liquor saloons, the pro- pfletors, in order to avoid trou ole nave ordered their servants that vol unteers in uniform shall not be served.
 USED BY KITCHENER
 In spite of all this discouragement the volunteers, with magnificent pa- trlotsm, have persisted and at last nave won recognition as a serious mill itary Iorce. None of the restrictions nave been relaxed, but Kitchener him. self has recognized their work. py making use of them. Already he has accepted the services of several of the city or London companies for garri- son work in the city at night The Fleet street corps, composed of Journalists, Tor instance, furnishes guard of Z5 men every night, which is on duty in house in Cheapside ready to turn out in case of Zeppelin raid or a civil disturbance, which might threaten the center of the worlds finance and trade The Stock Exchange company similarly mounts guard near the Bank of Eng land and the Wood Street company is on duty in its own area--the whole sale dry goods district Guards arc also being supplied for the various mu- nlt1ons works throughout the country ana Tor the internment camps for pris- oners of war and civilian prisoners and Kitchener has even called for men rom the volunteers to go out to France to take duty guarding the lines of communication, bringing back prison CTS, digging trenches in the rear and work of various kinds behind the ac- tual fighting line These men are to go out for a month at time and then lO us iclltNtu Uy IreSn QraItS from home.
 Lord Kitchener is now very much impressed by the vast reservoir of technical ability to be tapped in the volunteers. One of the best features Of the movement is the way in which men of similar trades and professions have grouped themselves in specialized companies. Thus in Birmingham, the Birmingham electrical corps has been formed by members of the electrical engineering and allied trades, the ath- letes volunteer force of London has formed special motor driving corps and the motor trade corps has organ ized technical corps which would be invaluable for repair and construction work. Connected with the united art corps of London is special section or architects and civil engineers whose training fits them for all sorts of topo- graphical and construction work. Cav airy are supplied by the country yeo- marry corps formed of farmers and farm workers and officered by the hard ridins hunting squires who are too old to do their bit at the front.
 PASS MUSKETRY TEST
 All the talents are to be found in some of the local corps in the large towns. For instance, in London suburb that 1 Know the volunteer corps in- cludes practically all the tradesmen from the builder and carpenter to the butcher and baker. It has two or three doctors, couple of dentists, an archi- feet, a surveyor, a couple of civil en- Eineers, several telegrpahists and postmen, the drivers of the town dust carts, some furniture removers and even steeplejack. Every man has passed his musketry test and is effi- cient in drill, and although there is not man in the corps under 40 it can do 15-mile route march on Sat- urday afternoon without man falling out or turning hair
 This particular corps, like good many others, has made a speciality of learning every road and lane leading to and from London in it's own suburb. There is not a man in 1t who is not qualified to act as guide to regular troops who wish to reach any point in the neighborhood by the quickest and safest way.
 Another branch of activity in which the volunteers have done excellent work is in recruiting for the regular army. Saturday after Saturday is given up by these busy men to recruiting marches and rallies and thousands Of recruits have been obtained by them.
 One of the greatest Weaknesses of the organization at present Is its arma- ment. The men have had to buy their own rifles and while each corps has managed to secure local uniformity, there is woeful diversity of arma- ment throughout the volunteer army Of course the regular service rifle was unobtainable as the whole avail able supply of this weapon is needed for the armies in the field. Many of the corps managed to secure old army rifles of a pattern two or three re- moves from the present arm and talk ing the government ammunition. These are perfectly good weapons and quite efficient for sentry go at home and riot duty, but hardly much use for se- rious defense against an invading army. Many corps have not managed to get guns at all and have had to go along with dummy rifles for drill and a couple of samples of the real thing handed round from man to man for musketry practice. A lot of the musketry has been done with minia- ture rifles on indoor ranges.
 Another reform that is needed is ths establishment of some rough physical test, not. of course, anything like so severe as that for the regular army. Patriotism goes long way but 1t cannot make a man of 70 or one who weighs nearer 300 than 200 pounds into an efficient soldier. I know one mem~ Der of volunteer corps who is 75 and had a stroke of paralysis year ago. He has done all his drills, passed in his musketry and has actually marched 10 miles. and has earned his red brassard. In the same corps there