accommodated. Such are the headquarters of the only volunteer regiment on wheels in the country—the pioneer corps amongst all volunteers.
We are not unmindful of the useful work of our cyclists amongst the regulars. They are a goodly body, and at Aldershot a remarkable multicycle called a "Victoria" may be seen, capable of carrying a dozen riders, and conveying provisions and ammunition, &c. Neither do we forget that to-day amongst all the volunteer battalions throughout the kingdom nearly every one of them has a cyclist section attached to it, amounting in all to some 5,100 men, credit going to "The Artists" for holding the riding record. Twelve "artistic" cyclists, under command of Sergeant Dixon, last year rode a distance of 102 miles in 16 hours 55 minutes, fully armed, and out of this time they were forced to halt for five hours owing to an accident, making the actual riding time a trifle over the twelve hours.
But, seeing that Sir Evelyn Wood has expressed the opinion that Parliament could not make a mistake in sanctioning the raising of at least 20,000 volunteer cyclists, and Lord Wolseley has shown himself so strongly in favour of them—to quote his speech, he said: "There are very few countries in the world where you cannot use cycles. During the whole time I was in India during the Mutiny, I do not remember—except when actually in the hills for three or four days' fighting—I do not remember one day's march, or any one fight in which we took part, where cyclists could not have been used with the greatest possible advantage"—we are inclined to single out this regiment on wheels—the 26th Middlesex—who started with a handful of men as recently as April 1, 1888, and whose work cannot but prove highly interesting to the 800,000 cyclists throughout Great Britain.
Lieut.-Colonel Savile.
Who suggested military cycling? There can be very little doubt that the idea of utilising wheels for military purposes has been brought over from the Continent. Italy appears to be first in the field; for, during the manœuvres of 1875 a service of cyclists at Sonima were called into requisition for carrying messages to and fro. Both Germany and Austria have also found work for the military cyclists; and, during the French autumn manœuvres of 1886, their skill as letter carriers was again put to the test. The honour of introducing the fighting cyclist in England apparently belongs to Colonel Tamplin, who employed them as scouts during the Easter manœuvres of 1885, though attention was drawn to this now important subject by Lieut.-General J. Sprot four years previously. Colonel Stracey, of the Scots Guards, has also taken a great interest in this matter. We shall probably be correct in saying that no one has done more to popularise the movement than Lieut.-Colonel A. R. Savile, who is the commanding officer of the regiment on wheels.
Lieut.-Colonel Savile is himself a thorough soldier, and is generally considered to be a thorough tactician, and an excellent cyclist. He joined the Royal Irish in 1863, soldiered up to 1888, when
