LETTERS TO THE EDITOR,.
MR. ARNOLD-FORSTER AND THE YEOMANRY.
(1.`0 TEM EDITOR OP TUE "SPECTATOR:1 SIE,—In his letter to the Spectator which you published in your issue of August 4th the late Secretary of State for War informs you of the efficacy of his recent schemes for Army reform, and Predicts the adoption of "most, if not all, of them" in the future. With such a balance in his favour, be would be, I feel sure, the last person to assume to himself any item in such direction the credit for which belongs to another. He claims that the adoption of the Yeomanry scheme, by which, it is presumed, he means the formation of the present Imperial Yeomanry after the South African War, was due to him. The inception of the idea for creating this force was due, on the contrary, entirely to his predecessor, Mr. Brodrick, under whom I had the pleasure of serving, as Inspector- General of Auxiliary Forces, the whole of the time that he was Secretary of State for War. Under his supervision and that of Lord Roberts the measure was carried out in every detail in my department by Colonel Le Roy-Lewis, D.A.A.G. for Yeomanry, in consultation with Yeomanry authorities. The force was fully formed and in full being long before Mr. Arnold-Forster became Secretary of State for War, and its creation will always be recorded as a very bright feature of Mr. Brodrick's tenure of office in Pall Mall. Mr. Arnold- Forster certainly reduced the total establishment of the Imperial Yeomanry, as fixed by Mr. Brodrick and Lord Roberts, from 35,000 to 27,000, and that of each regiment from 596 to 476, but it can hardly be supposed that this fact in itself constitutes the "scheme affecting the Yeomanry" for which he assumes so much credit.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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