I assume that the cost of maintaining a private soldier is covered by £36 a year, while his allowance of 4d. a day amounts to £6, 1s. 4d. In order to cover the extra allowances which may be made to corporals, buglers, and trumpeters, I assume the average cost of the rank and file to be £45 a year. I also assume that the average cost of a sergeant does not exceed £100 a year, which allows from £40 to £50 for his pay and the balance for his housing, clothing, equipment, and food. I add provisions for pensions for sergeants after twenty-five years' service. These figures lead to the following estimate:-- 7000 officers at £500 £3,500,000 14,000 sergeants at £100 1,400,000 Pension after twenty-five years for sergeants, £52 a year 396,864 (An annual class of 14,000, decreasing annually by 2-1/2 per cent., would consist, after twenty-five years, of 7632) ------------ Carry forward £5,296,864 Brought forward . . . £5,296,864 200,000 privates at £45 a year . . 9,000,000 2nd year of 20,000 mounted troops (cavalry and horse artillery at £60 a year each) 1,200,000 Six months' extra training for 30,000 men with pay (total rate per man £60 a year) (20,000 for paid reserve and 10,000 fortress troops) . . . . 900,000 First-class reserve . . . . 997,600 Training supplementary officers and sergeants 500,000 ------------ £17,894,464 Colonial troops . . . . . 3,500,000 Total personnel . . . . £21,394,464 ------------ _Matériel_, allowing for additional cost due to larger numbers . . . . 4,500,000 Staff and administration . . . 1,500,000 ------------ Total cost of army at home and in the Colonies . . . . . £27,394,464 ============ The figures here given will, it is hoped, speak for themselves. They are, if anything, too high rather than too low. The number of officers is calculated on the basis of the present war establishments, which give 5625 officers for 160,500 of the other ranks. It does not include those in Egypt and the Colonies. The cost of the officers is taken at a higher average rate than that of British officers of the combatant arms under the present system, and, both for sergeants and for privates, ample allowance appears to me to be made even on the basis of their present cost.