Victoria, Canada, Cape of Good Hope. The Royal Malta Militia. The regulations also provide for the grant of commissions to candidates from the University of Malta, and from the chartered universities of Colonies not having a Military College. Two commissions are offered annually to students from the Royal Military College, Kingston, Canada. (e) From the ranks-as quartermaster, and riding-master. These receive an outfit allowance of £150 for cavalry and £100 for infantry. Commissions are also given as 2nd lieutenants, the outfit allowances each year being limited in number. 4. Army Service Corps.1 Officers of the Army Service Corps are combatant officers of the army, and, under the terms of the Royal Warrant, first commissions may be given under the same conditions as those governing appointment to the cavalry and infantry, but as a rule appointments are only made from unmarried officers actually serving upon the active list of the army and Royal Marines, and having certain qualifying commissioned service. Officers serving with the Indian staff corps are not eligible. Officers join (as a rule at Aldershot) on probation for one year. They have to pass a course of instruction lasting from 3 to 6 months, after completing which they are available (if recommended) for duty at home and abroad. Should the exigencies of the service so require, captains and subalterns may be "attached" to the Army Service Corps for a period of five years for duty, in which case they receive the pay and emoluments of officers of like rank on the permanent list of the corps. 5. Royal Marines.2 Admission to Royal Marine Artillery and Light Infantry as 2nd lieutenants is offered to the candidates in order of merit at the open competitive examinations for admission to the R. M. Academy at Woolwich, and R. M. College, Sandhurst. Second lieutenants on appointment are required to enter on a course of study at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, beginning on the 1st October in each year. 6. Chaplains' Department. For the appointment of chaplain to the forces in the Church of England, a candidate must have been three years in priest's orders and his age must not exceed 35 years. On nomination he will be required to serve for one year as a probationary chaplain at some military station under an army chaplain, who will report on his qualifications. 1 See Horse Guards, W.O. circular, dated June, 1892. 2 Admiralty Circular. See also the end of chaps. viii. and xii. 7. Army Medical Department.1 Candidates for commissions as medical officer must be between 21 and 28 years of age. An open competition is held generally twice a year. Successful candidates are first appointed as surgeons on probation, during which time they undergo a special course of instruction at the Army Medical School, Netley (usually about four months). After passing out of Netley they are commissioned as surgeon-lieutenant, and are attached to the Depôt and Training School, Aldershot, for instruction in ambulance and medical staff corps work, before taking up their medical duties. 8. Army Veterinary Department.? Application is to be made to the Director-General, Army Veterinary Department, War Office; limits of age are 21 and 26 years, except in special cases. Candidates must be unmarried. Successful candidates are appointed veterinary officers on probation for six months, after which, if recommended they receive commissions as veterinary-lieutenant. 9. Army Pay Department. Appointments to this department are conferred upon combatant officers of the regular forces within certain limits of age and service. Application is made through the officer commanding the applicant's regiment, who furnishes a confidential report upon the qualification of the officer to undertake financial duties. A candidate when selected is attached to a pay office for instruc tion, and from time to time is reported on. At the end of his probation he is examined before a board of officers of the army pay department. If found competent to serve in the department, he continues to serve in it on his combatant commission for 5 years, after which, if he elects to remain in the department, he must resign his combatant commission and be commissioned as a paymaster. 10. Ordnance Store Department.1 The qualifications are briefly a minimum of five years commissioned service in the army or Royal Marines, preference being given in a certain defined order; officers join on probation for one year. 11. Indian Staff Corps. From the time of the formation of the Indian staff corps, admission thereto was offered exclusively to officers of British regiments, under certain precise regulations as to qualifications. The Army Order of 9th March, 1 Regulations issued with A.O. 2 Regulations issued with A.O. 3Q.R., sect. v., paras. 78 to 85, and Royal Warrant for Pay, &c., arts. 381 to 385. 4 * Q.R., sect. v., sub-sect. 6, and Royal Warrant for Pay, &c., arts. 290 to 1891, subsequently amended by that of 1st September, 1892, introduced a scheme for direct appointment, and other considerable changes in the system of admission: the latest regulations on the subject should be always referred to by those interested. The general effect of the existing regulation is that a certain number of appointments to the Indian staff corps are offered to candidates for admission to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Queen's cadets (British and Indian), and honorary Queen's cadets nominated by the Secretary of State for India in Council, have the option of accepting these appointments to the staff corps, and the remaining available vacancies are allotted to successful candidates in order of merit; who, thereafter, complete their course of instruction at the Royal Military College. Militia and university candidates for the army are also eligible, but will not be so after the 1st January, 1895. Officers who entered the army before the 1st September, 1892, remain eligible for the staff corps to "such extent as may be determined," and under regulations very similar to those obtaining before March, 1891; but officers entering the army after the 1st September, 1892, will be admitted only as "from time to time required to supplement the direct supply from Sandhurst." It is, however, expressly provided that " any officer of the British army who may show exceptional qualifications for service in India" specially selected for the Indian staff corps. Exchange, also, is permitted between an officer of the British service and one of the staff corps under certain conditions which embrace qualification for staff employ under Indian regulations, and that immediate employment is available. may be The successful candidates for direct appointment, after their final examination at Sandhurst, are gazetted second lieutenants on the unattached list of the British Army, are sent to India, serve a year with a British regiment, and are then admitted to the staff corps and appointed to a native regiment. The regulations prescribe the conditions for the officer's subsequent retention or promotion in the service, which depend in part on his passing examinations in the native languages. 12. General Staff at Home and in the Colonies.1 The qualifications for service on the staff of the army at home and in the colonies are: A minimum of service in the regular army or Royal Marines of four years, to have passed the final examination at the Staff College or to hold the rank of lieutenant-colonel, or to be of proved ability on the staff in the field. For appointment to the personal staff of general officers, an officer who has not the staff college certificate is required to have qualified for the rank of captain, and also to have passed a simple examination in French. 13. General Staff of the Army in India.2 The conditions for service on the staff in India are briefly A minimum of four years' service, to have passed the examination in the native languages by the higher standard, to have passed the staff college or the qualifying examination as laid down in the Indian Army regulations, or to be of proved ability in the field. 14. Militia, Yeomanry, and Volunteers-First Commissions.1 The lord lieutenant of a county recommends for the consideration of the Secretary of State for War for submission to the Sovereign the names of candidates not less than 17 years of age for first appointments as subaltern officers. Commanding officers are directed to assist the lord lieutenant, if required to do so, in the selection, and certain qualifications must be fulfilled by the candidate. If within 30 days of the notification of a vacancy a lord lieutenant does not exercise his right of recommendation, it lapses, and the commanding officer would be called on to recommend a candidate. 15. Reserve of Officers. See end of next chapter. 1 See Militia, Yeomanry, and Volunteer Regulations. Y CHAPTER XIX. RECRUITING. RESERVE OF OFFICERS. 1. Organization of the Recruiting Department of the Army. THE Inspector-General of Recruiting supervises the organization and the administration of the staff connected with recruiting for the regular army and the militia. Also all "extensions of service" with the colours, "re-engagements," "re-enlistments," "discharges," the passing of soldiers to the reserve, "transfers" of soldiers to other corps, all questions as to reckoning forfeiture and restoration of service, the mode of keeping up soldiers' records of service, and the scheme for providing reserve men and discharged soldiers with employ ment. Further, his department prepares the submission of applications for pension which are outside of the ordinary routine, and for which special consideration by the commissioners of Chelsea Hospital is necessary. It also deals with the arrangements, in conjunction with other departments, for the roster for foreign service, and for the despatch of drafts to units stationed outside of the British Isles; and, speaking in general terms, it is charged with the administration of Part II.1 of the Army Act, 1881, and the corresponding provisions of the Militia and Reserve Forces Acts, 1882. Recruiting Staff.-The staff at headquarters consists of the inspectorgeneral of recruiting, and a deputy-assistant adjutant-general. Other agents are :-(1) an assistant adjutant-general, whose special duties are to supervise the recruiting district of London, and the arrangements for the subsistence Part II. of Army Act deals with enlistment, and includes discharges and transfer to reserve. |