, during which General Alderson
successively became Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel. He became a
Colonel in 1903 and was placed in charge of the Second Infantry Brigade,
and in 1908 commanded the Sixth Division, Southern Army of India, having
meantime been given the rank of Major General.

After the departure of the first contingent recruiting was continued by
the militia regiments, and during the winter the men were quartered in
exhibition grounds, Y.M.C.As., sheds, etc. In the spring of 1915
existing camps were enlarged and new ones opened.

During this period the recruiting machinery developed from the militia
regiments. Through the latter officers were recommended to command new
battalions. These O.Cs. selected most of their subordinate officers from
their own militia regiments and used the parent organization as a
general basis for recruiting operations, headquarters being located at
the regimental armories.

The keen competition existing between the militia units was maintained
between the new oversea formations, and battalions were raised in a few
weeks. For months enlistments all over Canada averaged more than 1000
men daily, and with recruits coming forward at this rate, there was no
necessity of protracted delay in bringing battalions up to strength.

DIFFICULTY OF RECRUITING.

There was a disposition, especially in military circles, to attribute
the increasing difficulty of the recruiting situation during the winter
of 1915-16 and since to a change of system and the introduction of the
so-called "political colonels." The change, however, was rather the
result of new conditions than the cause of it. Recruiting had slowed
down--largely from natural causes.

A new appeal was needed to reach a class of eligible men who had not yet
enlisted. The recruiting problem apparently had outgrown the facilities
of the militia organizations. Rightly or wrongly, the government
commissioned a number of well-known men, without military experience, to
raise battalions. Their popularity and local confidence in them were the
excuses for their appointment--and the experiment was in the main
successful.

Perhaps there was a suggestion of politics about it, although it may be
stated emphatically that politics had not been a serious influence in
connection with the recruiting, training or leadership of Canada's
oversea forces. That such is the case stands to the enduring credit of
Major General Hughes.

The attempt