service that we must look for that bond of Military Unity which is to provide the field army required, and thus to form the true basis of our Imperial defence system.
The principles included within the present Militia Act of 1882 are largely accepted in their general bearing by other parts of the Empire, and are embodied in the Militia Act of Canada, 1867, the Defence Act of Australia, 1903, and the Defence Act of Natal, 1903. Legal powers for an extension of Militia service beyond the limits of the United Kingdom are alone required to make the existing Acts of Parliament sufficient for the present requirements. Legislation in this regard has already been undertaken by the Imperial Government, and it is safe to assume that the various Colonial Governments will come to see the necessity of following suit.
No military system can be put into effect which is not in accord with the natural instincts of the people, and as Anglo-Saxondom is practically unanimous in regard to the soundness of a Militia system of military service, if carried out upon the thorough and effective lines demanded by modern developments, it is to such a system that we must look. The Commonwealth of Australia, the latest born of the British Sisterhood of Nations, has recently adopted a Militia Army System, which, it is urged, best fulfils the conditions for national defence imposed by the Anglo-Saxon form of constitutional Government and by the radical developments of modern democracy.
Militia System adopted by Australia, 1903.
The Commonwealth military system was drawn up in accordance with certain defined strategical considerations which were embodied in a special minute on the subject, and laid before the Australian Parliament in April, 1902. It provides:
1. A Permanent (or Regular) Cadre Force, consisting of the General and Instructional Staff, a regiment of Artillery, small detachments of Engineers, Army Service
