Page:The empire and the century.djvu/269

 {| class="table horizborder smaller p238" and File. and File.
 * colspan=5 |Peace.
 * colspan=5 |War.
 * Unit
 * Officers.
 * Sergeants.
 * Artificers.
 * Rank
 * Sergeants.
 * Artificers.
 * Rank
 * Total.
 * Officers.
 * Sergeants.
 * Artificers.
 * Rank
 * Total.
 * Squadron of Australian Light Horse
 * 5
 * 6
 * 3
 * 58
 * 72
 * 6
 * 10
 * 5
 * 114
 * 135
 * Company of Australian Infantry
 * 3
 * 4
 * &hellip;
 * 53
 * 60
 * 3
 * 5
 * &hellip;
 * 108
 * 116
 * }
 * 116
 * }

The peace cadres by this plan, with practically their full complement of trained officers and non-commissioned officers, can be completed upon mobilization in time of national emergency by partially trained or even untrained men to the requirements of war without serious difficulty. The degree of training to be given to officers and non-commissioned officers in peace is solely governed by expense. The formation of schools of instruction has been carried out, but they must be still further elaborated by the Commonwealth if they are to be really effective and to successfully achieve the desired result. The expenditure necessary is relatively insignificant.

The system of instruction and the periods of training for the whole force thus organized are made as elastic as possible, and have been so arranged as to give ample latitude to meet local requirements, and to interfere as little as may be with the civil occupations of those professional men and of those well-to-do and intelligent individuals of the community who are found, as a rule, in the ranks of the Volunteers, and but rarely in the ranks of the Militia of the United Kingdom. The result is that the rank and file in Australia, as in Canada, are far superior in intelligence, physique, and in social status to the rank and file of the Regular Army or Militia at home. Military knowledge and instruction are consequently absorbed more readily, and under