substitute, the purchase system should be extinguished by a loan. It Is hardly fair to charge the taxpayers of a few years for a costly experiment that is to upset a system of two hundred years' standing. The interest on this six or eight millions (computed as necessary) would not, as terminable annuities, amount to more than £500,000 a year. Then guns are required to the amount of £500,000, according to the Government, calculated to extend over three years! (Think of that, Marlborough, Wellington, and Moltke, we are to be ready for the "Pickelhaube" in three years! Besides which, Mr. Cardwell has promised us a reserve of actually 60,000 men in twelve years!!) Then there will be torpedoes to procure, and munitions of war, and the stores to replace that you have, it is whispered, squandered to make a fictitious balance-sheet. How much do you reckon that, Bobus? Here is a sort of rough calculation, at least:—
| Interest on ten millions (terminable annuities) required for embodiment and formation of a reserve | £700,000 |
| Interest on seven or eight millions for extinction of Purchase (terminable annuities), say | 500,000 |
| Guns required (to purchase at once) | 500,000 |
| Torpedoes, and replacement of stores, &c., say, one million (?)—interest on same as above | 70,000 |
| Yearly cost of reserve, by way of pensions, retainers, and a fortnight's em- |
