laced in
them.

The Lords Lieutenant of Counties and the associations which worked under
them bestowed a vast amount of labor and energy on the organization of
the territorial force; and I trust it may be some recompense to them to
know that I, and the principal commanders serving under me, consider
that the territorial force has far more than justified the most sanguine
hopes that any of us ventured to entertain of their value and use in
the field. Commanders of cavalry divisions are unstinted in their praise
of the manner in which the yeomanry regiments attached to their brigades
have done their duty, both in and out of action. The service of
divisional cavalry is now almost entirely performed by yeomanry, and
divisional commanders report that they are very efficient.

Army corps commanders are loud in their praise of the territorial
battalions, which form part of nearly all the brigades at the front in
the first line, and more than one of them have told me that these
battalions are fast approaching--if they have not already reached--the
standard of efficiency of regular infantry.

I wish to add a word about the Officers' Training Corps. The presence of
the Artists' Rifles (Twenty-eighth Battalion, the London regiment) with
the army in France enabled me also to test the value of this
organization.

Having had some experience in peace of the working of the Officers'
Training Corps, I determined to turn the Artists' Rifles (which formed
part of the Officers' Training Corps in peace time) to its legitimate
use. I therefore established the battalion as a training corps for
officers in the field.

The cadets passed through a course, which includes some thoroughly
practical training, as all cadets do a tour of forty-eight hours in the
trenches, and afterward write a report on what they see and notice. They
also visit an observation post of a battery or group of batteries, and
spend some hours there.

A commandant has been appointed, and he arranges and supervises the
work, sets schemes for practice, administers the school, delivers
lectures, and reports on the candidates.

The cadets are instructed in all branches of military training suitable
for platoon commanders.

Machine-gun tactics, a knowledge of which is so necessary for all junior
officers, is a special feature of the course of instruction.

When first started, the school was able to turn out officers at the
rate of seventy-five a month. This has since