Motorbuses for Home Defence.
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Sir J. H. A. Macdonald, K.C.B., Lord Justice-Clerk of Scotland, in the course of a paper which he read at the Royal United Service Insritution, Whitehall, S.W., on the 11th February, 1907, outlined various developments of the organisation of power traction on roads for national defence. Ile suggested that 1,500 motorbuses, each loaded with 30 men, could convey an army 275,000 strong, from London to any near point on the South Eastern coast, over a distance of, say, 65 miles, in something like 6o hours, or that, alternatively, nearly 45,000 men could be conveyed iflo miles, within 24 hours from the time of setting out, by the same number of Irehicles. The writer, in the course of the discussion, drew attention to the necessity for a rehearsal of any such plan of transport, particularly if it were to tyke place in the night-time, and this suggestion was made, not by reason of any timidity in regard to the inevitable percentage of mishaps which are inseparable from war conditions, but in order to insure that some not inconsiderable proportion of the motorbuses should really reach their objective. London drivers are not used to country roads.
Page 274 of this issue bears a short report of a smallscale experiment by the Fifth Essex Territorials. This demonstration, however, is of minor importance, and we are very glad to have an assurance that the War Office authorities have the matter of a large-scale test well to the fore. They will probably be wise to let the first run be conducted in daylight, and with not more than 25 or 30 vehicles, as there is much to be learned, quite apart from the difficulties of hiring, before an army corps can be handled in this way.