battalions, with the exception of ten battalions maintained at a reduced strength. The re-distribution of the army, which is understood to be largely due to Lord Kitchener, although it has been often discussed before, and put on one side owing to its great cost, is an attempt to organize the army in units of command similar to those in which it would take the field, as follows:
| Divisional Commands. | ||
| Northern Command | Peshawar, First Division. | |
| Rawal Pindi, Second Division. | ||
| Lahore, Third Division. | ||
| Western Command | Quetta, Fourth Division. | |
| Indore, Fifth Division. | ||
| Poona, Sixth Division. | ||
| Eastern Command | Meerut, Seventh Division. | |
| Lucknow, Eighth Division. | ||
| Secunderabad, Ninth Division. |
The idea is that each divisional area shall furnish one fighting division, subdivided into three brigades, to concentrate the main portion of the army in large cantonments, and abandon a number of the smaller stations. There will also be some separate troops on the North-West Frontier, at Aden, and a divisional command in Burma. No details are as yet available showing how far the concentration will go, but as a division consists of one cavalry and three infantry brigades, and divisional troops such as artillery, sappers, and pioneers, besides other auxiliary services, it is evident that the redistribution will involve a heavy building programme. From a strictly military point of view, the troops should be actually concentrated in divisions; but there are many reasons of the strongest kind against such an arrangement. In a country of the vast extent of India it would be out of the question to have troops at nine points only, and the real question is, does the advantage of concentration compensate for the disadvantages? The troops cannot always be training. In the hot weather most of the British troops should be away
