ay.

_The Com._ Which does not prevent you from working?

_Off._ On the contrary, Sir, nearly all my leisure is devoted to the
study of what I may, perhaps, be permitted to call my supplementary
profession.

_The Com._ What are your duties?

_Off._ Almost too numerous to enumerate. Before I received my
Commission, I had to undertake to make myself proficient in everything
appertaining to the rank to which I was appointed. This entailed a
month's hard work (five or six hours a day in the barrack-square), at
one of the Schools of Instruction.

_The Com._ Well, let us suppose that you _have_ become duly qualified
to command a company--what next?

_Off._ Having reached this point, I find myself called upon to work
as hard as any Line officer on full pay. True, I have not (except
when the battalion is camping out, or taking part in manoeuvres), to
trouble myself with matters connected with the Commissariat, but in
every other respect my position is exactly analogous to my brother
officers in other branches of the QUEEN's Service. I have to attend
numerous drills, and perform the duties, at stated intervals, of the
Orderly Room. Besides this, I have to see that every parade is well
attended by the men of my company. This entails, as you may imagine,
time and trouble.

_The Com._ May I take it that it is less difficult to command
Volunteers than Regulars?

_Off._ That is a matter of opinion. If a Volunteer officer can bring
to bear his social position (for instance, should his men be his
tenants, or in his employment), he may find the task of command an
easy one. But should the battalion to which he belongs be composed of
that large class of persons who consider "one man as good as another,
and better," no little tact is required in keeping up discipline.
Besides this, he starts at a disadvantage. Every retirement from the
regiment means the loss of an earner of the capitation grant; and
as the maintenance of a Volunteer corps is an exceedingly expensive
matter, a "free and independent private" feels that if he withdraws,
or is forced to withdraw, his officers are practically the pecuniary
sufferers of the proceeding.

_The Com._ Am I to understand then that the cost of a battalion falls
upon the commissioned rank?

_Off._ Almost entirely. The officers have generally to pay a heavy
entrance fee, and subscription, and must, if they wish to be popular,
contribute largely to prize funds, entertainments, and the cost