There is much in Britain to-day posit industrial troubles, over which it is possible to wax
heavy taxation, unemployment, housing, the health of the people and 0 forth and so on, and there are not wanting either among the British or among foreigners those who delight in rubbing these things in, and deducing from them the doom of the Empire and the decadence of the race. It is with something of a thrill, therefore. that we have been reading in the' Home papers accounts of the recent} army manoeuvres and the present naval manoeuvres, and the soberly' hopeful conclusions which have been derived from them by men given' neither to exaggeration nor sense~ Yess flag-wagging. The British army of to-day, we are told, is not} Jone whit less efficient than that gallant body of men who repelled overwhelming odds in 1914, before the New Army was ready to reinforce them. The newspapers record forced marches conducted by modern regiments in the course of this! year's manceuvres not only equal but superior to pre-war records. Oficial statistics show that the health and physique of the men is good as it was in 1914, ang the same esprit-de-corps influences them their work and behaviour. During the naval maneuvres the same tale of efficiency and smartness is told We are assured that on the material side the ships and fittings of the Royal Navy as-a whole are without equal in the world, whilst the personnel are described' as "a splendid ady of men who comprise the most self-respecting group of citizens in the country, ashore or afloat." Wel Ihave recently had overwhelming evidence in China of the truth of these remarks as "applied to the men of His Majesty's Navy on the China Station, and no one needs to be assured that what is tras of the men who took part in that heroic struggle ab Wanhsien, applies evinced on both sides in the, course of the present coal strike, it la indeed refreshing to turn oer thoughts on the men who constitute the Empire's frst line of defence.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.