Part 13

The 17th Appendix to the Army Estimates is a statement of the cost of the British army, arranged under the four headings of:--

1. Cost of personnel of regular army and army reserve £18,279,234

2. Cost of special reserves and territorial forces 5,149,843

3. Cost of armaments, works, stores, &c. 3,949,463

4. Cost of staff and administration 1,414,360 ___________ Making a total of £28,792,900 ===========

In the above table nearly a million is set down for the cost of certain labour establishments and of certain instructional establishments, which may for the present purpose be neglected. Leaving them out, the present cost of the personnel of the Regular Army, apart from staff, is, £15,942,802. For this cost are maintained officers, non-commissioned officers and men, numbering altogether 170,000.

The lowest pay given is that of 1s. a day to infantry privates, the privates of the other arms receiving somewhat higher and the non-commissioned officers very much higher rates of pay.

If compulsory service were introduced into Great Britain, pay would become unnecessary for the private soldier; but he ought to be and would be given a daily allowance of pocket-money, which probably ought not to exceed fourpence. The mounted troops would be paid at the rate of 1s. a day during their second year's service.

Assuming then that the private soldier received fourpence a day instead of 1s. a day, and that the officers and non-commissioned officers were paid as at present, the cost of the army would be reduced by an amount corresponding to 8d. a day for 148,980 privates. That amount is £1,812,590, the deduction of which would reduce the total cost to £14,137,212. At the same rate an army of 200,000 privates and

20,000 non-commissioned officers and men would cost . . . . . . . . £18,295,215

Second year of 20,000 mounted troops at £60 a year each . . . 1,200,000

Add to this cost of first-class Reserve of 96,000 at £10 7s. 6d. each . . . . . . . 997,600

Cost of 30,000 men for six months' extra training at the rate of £60 a year each . . . . . 900,000

Cost of extra training for supplementary officers and non-commissioned officers . . . . . . 500,000 ----------- £21,892,815 Add to this the cost of the troops maintained in the Colonies and Egypt so far as charged to British Estimates . . . . £3,401,704 ----------- Total personnel . . . £25,294,519

Matériel (allowing for additional outlay due to larger numbers) . . 4,500,000

Staff and administration . . . 1,500,000 ------------ Total Cost of Army at Home and in the Colonies . . £31,294,519

This is slightly in excess of the present cost of the personnel of the Army, but, whereas the present charge only provides for the heterogeneous force already described of 589,000 men, the charges here explained provide for a short-service homogeneous army of one million and a half, as well as for the 45,000 troops permanently maintained in Egypt and the Colonies.

The estimate just given is, however, extravagant. The British system has innumerable different rates of pay and extra allowances of all kinds, and is so full of anomalies that it is bound to be costly. Unfortunately, the Army Estimates are so put together that it is difficult to draw from them any exact inferences as to the actual annual cost of a private soldier beyond his pay.

The average annual cost, effective and non-effective, of an officer in the cavalry, artillery, engineers, and infantry is £473, this sum covering all the arrangements for pensions and retiring allowances.

I propose in the following calculations to assume the average cost of an officer to be £500 a year, a sum which would make it possible for the average combatant officer to be somewhat better paid than he is at present.

The normal pay of a sergeant in the infantry of the line is 2s. 4d. a day, or £42, 11s. 8d. a year. The Army Estimates do not give the cost of a private soldier, but the statement is made that the average annual cost per head of 150,000 warrant officers, non-commissioned officers, and men is £63, 6s. 7d. The warrant officers and non-commissioned officers appear to be much more expensive than the private, and as the minimum pay of a private is £18, 5s., the balance, £45, 1s. 7d., is probably much more than the cost of housing, clothing, feeding, and equipping the private, whose food, the most expensive item, certainly does not cost a shilling a day or £18 a year.

I assume that the cost of maintaining a private soldier is covered by £36 a year, while his allowance of 4d. a day amounts to £6, 1s. 4d. In order to cover the extra allowances which may be made to corporals, buglers, and trumpeters, I assume the average cost of the rank and file to be £45 a year. I also assume that the average cost of a sergeant does not exceed £100 a year, which allows from £40 to £50 for his pay and the balance for his housing, clothing, equipment, and food. I add provisions for pensions for sergeants after twenty-five years' service.

These figures lead to the following estimate:--

7000 officers at £500 £3,500,000

14,000 sergeants at £100 1,400,000

Pension after twenty-five years for sergeants, £52 a year 396,864

(An annual class of 14,000, decreasing annually by 2-1/2 per cent., would consist, after twenty-five years, of 7632) ------------ Carry forward £5,296,864

Brought forward . . . £5,296,864