their views as those of Sir Edmund Barton, Mr. Watson, and Mr. Reid.
Militia System of Canada.
The organization of the National Militia Army adopted by Australia followed closely the plan adopted in 1867 for Canada by that able and accomplished soldier General Sir Patrick MacDougall. Political exigencies, however, caused the excellently conceived Militia system of Canada to lapse, and its governing principles to be forgotten. It was not until the rude shock which Canada experienced in 1895 during the strained relations with our kinsmen of the United States over the Venezuela Boundary Question that public attention was directed to the discreditable condition of Canadian defence. Large sums were then hurriedly laid out in arms and equipment, and belated efforts were made to improve the standard of military training. It was, however, 1898 before the essential equipment arrived, before money was provided for the complete training of the whole of the Canadian Militia, and before measures were adopted for improving and completing the all-essential administrative organization. The stimulus thus given to the natural military spirit of the Canadians, the consequent improvement in military training and knowledge, and, above all, the vastly improved military organization, showed its value and result in the relative excellence of the representative units contributed by Canada to the South African War.
The keynote, however, of the success of the National Militia System, adopted by Canada in 1867 and by Australia in 1903, is the organization in complete form of the larger military units, and the allotment of complete brigades to defined districts, together with the association of the smaller military units of regiments, squadrons, batteries, and companies within certain allotted areas in these districts. The districts, be they the provinces in Canada, the States in Australia, or the
