in the hills, while the native soldiery require liberal furlough to visit their homes, and their wives and families. This is an essential condition of the existence of the native army, a married army with the families living in distant homes. Under the previous arrangements field divisions were drawn from particular areas, but not symmetrically. That was impossible. Some of the divisions, but not all, could have been trained together in the cold weather, under the Generals who would lead them in the field, and have had all their stores and transport at hand; but they could not be actually concentrated, and neither under the old nor the new plan can the troops, the units, always be the same, as there must be changes of station in relief.
The whole thing turns on the degree of concentration. Let us take an example. The present Eighth (or Lucknow) Division has its headquarters at Lucknow, with a brigade at Fyzabad; a second brigade distributed between Cawnpore, Allahabad, and Benares, hundreds of miles apart; a third at Calcutta, the capital of India, and seven hundred miles from Lucknow, embracing garrisons and outposts from Dinapore to Darjeeling, and from Buxa Duar, on the Bhutan frontier, to Cuttack in Orissa, on the Bay of Bengal; and a fourth brigade in still more distant Assam, and distributed in various stations and outposts for the protection of a frontier liable to the incursions of savage tribes. To call the troops stationed all over this immense area a 'division' is, of course, merely calling old things by new titles. If there is to be reality, then this division must be concentrated at least in brigades, and that will necessitate the withdrawal of garrisons not merely from unimportant places, but from points of which some are of vital importance; while unless the whole country of Bengal and Assam is deprived of military garrisons, no further concentration can take place, and no training as a 'division' can possibly be undertaken. The excessive concentration of troops in India has hitherto been regarded as inex-
