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Appendix No. 6.

CANADA.

488

ment, should be under the orders of the General Officer commanding in Canada, and should be inspected by him every year.

Paragraphs 12 and 13. All the reserve men should be enrolled from among the active militia, or from among men having served therein, and ready to re-enter, and fulfilling the requisite qualifi- cations.

Paragraphs 14 and 15. See remarks on 5, 6, and 7. Paragraphs 16, 17, and 18. Agreed.

Paragraph 19. This will be a matter of experience. I think a large proportion might easily be

found.

Paragraph 20. Not from reserve militia. I feel sure that seven thoroughly competent officers could be found to command battalions in the Dominion. These should not be selected by the Deputy Adjutants-General, but by the central authority, ie., by the General Officer commanding the militia, who would have all Canada to choose from.

The Deputy Adjutants-General might recommend the company officers for their particular battalions, and the General Officer commanding would select.

The names of the officers should be submitted for approval by the English Commander-in- chief.

The commanding officer and one Major should be Canadians in time of war; the second Major and a certain proportion of the company officers could be supplied from the regular army.

I think the Lieutenant-Colonels should be appointed permanently. I could name several of my own knowledge.

Paragraph 21. Good non-commissioned officers will, I think, be the greatest difficulty, not as to material, which is excellent, but as regards training. About 500 company sergeants and corporals will be wanted. These might be attached for training in successive batches during winter months to the Kingston College and Kingston Battery, to the Quebec Battery, and to any regiments at Halifax, being paid and subsisted by the Imperial Government while so attached.

Paragraph 25. Agreed, with qualification of remark on paragraph 11. Paragraphs 26 and 27. Matters of detail easily arranged.

April 19, 1880.

(Signed)

P. L. MACDOUGALL.

Inclosure 5 in No. 1.

Notes by Sir E. Selby Smyth on Sir P. MacDougall's Memorandum.*

I CANNOT concur that it is " hopeless" to expect the Canadian Government to maintain a small permanent force, even in time of general peace, upon the economical basis sketched out in my annual Report of this year, and in previous Memoranda.

Public opinion is being gradually, if slowly, educated up to the necessity, owing to the repetition of dangerous riots in large cities, and the spread of population among the aborigines of the north-west territories.

Such an increase would not be at the cost of the active militia, and some public men have already turned their thoughts to such a contingency at no distant day.

From information derived from various districts, I am impressed with the hope that the Deputy Adjutants-General could select certain corps on which to affiliate reserved companies without much, if any jealousy. Those staff officers know local feelings best. Those of judgment and experience, to whom I referred, hold the opinion before expressed.

The alternative might undoubtedly be taken to enrol a reserve in Canada similar to the militia reserve in England, serving individually, and not in companies; and it might answer the purpose; but the practical opinions I obtained before recording my own, and which have been since supplemented, adhere to the mode already stated.

Canada is an enormous territory, with a sparse population; England, comparatively small and thickly peopled. The system that suits the one perfectly might be less successful in the other. Canada, like England, is quite competent to adopt plans suitable to the pursuits and character of its own people.

I had previously recommended that the reserve should be assembled in battalions as a distinct body every year after performing their regular drills with the respective affiliated corps.

To this end officers must be appointed. It would be to no practical end to have them only on paper, and I am afraid it would be found necessary to give them a small reserve pay, as a retainer. There is an abundance of good officers, some of whom have served in the regular army, but generally engaged in business.

The character of the Canadian militia has changed materially since Sir Patrick left them in 1868. The force was then only growing up under his able management; but since the departure of the regular army in 1870, they have learned to appreciate that they form the national army of the Dominion, and have correspondingly developed in solidity and self-respect.

I repeat, we must carry the good-will of the active force and the general population with us in this new movement very carefully, else, through the press and the people's representatives, they may, and probably would stir up an insurmountable opposition.

They will understand and apply themselves to further a project, originating with and administered by their own Government, and carried out by their General Officer commanding militia and staff, but they would view with some suspicion and jealousy a plan requiring officers and men who would

* Inclosure 4.

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