War Office, and that the nucleus of a force of the kind has already been formed. At the locomotive works of the London and North Western Company at Crewe, where something like 6,000 men are employed, a Volunteer force was embodied in the early part of the year 1887, under the title of the 2nd Cheshire (Railway) Engineer Volunteers, which comprises at present—and while it is as yet perhaps only in its infancy—an effective force of 631 men, of whom 23 are officers, 578 are non-commissioned officers and men, and 30 are first-class Army Reserve men who are employed in the works, and are attached to the corps as supernumeraries, This corps is composed almost entirely of men who, in their ordinary avocations, are smiths, fitters, firemen, etc., and they are undergoing, in addition to the ordinary infantry drill, a course of instruction in military engineering. The corps, having been incorporated upon the ordinary volunteer principle, is at present only liable to be called out in case of invasion, but such men as these would be invaluable in case of a war on the continent, or elsewhere, in which we might be engaged, and the War Office, recognising this fact, have arranged that a certain proportion of the men comprising each company should enlist in the Royal Engineers, as a matter of form, for one day, and then be placed in the first-class Army Reserve for six years, in which case they would receive pay, and their services would be available in case of need either at home or abroad. A considerable number of men have already come forward, and if the movement proves successful, the example will doubtless be followed in other large railway works throughout the country.
The Crewe Volunteers were reviewed by H.R.H. the
