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THE CORPS OE COMMISSIONAIRES. 
- BY — 
LIEUT.-COLONEL A. M. MURRAY, R.A. 
O WING to the stress laid by the War Office on the necessity for 
providing army pensioners and reservists with situations in civil 
life, with a view to increasing the numbers and improving the quality 
of recruits, the Committee of the R.A. Institution may consider the pre¬ 
sent time opportune for calling attention to the work done in this di¬ 
rection by the Corps of Commissionaires—the most successful of all the 
agencies which have been established for finding employment for old 
soldiers. Although full information about the corps can be obtained on 
application at its offices and a copy of its rules has been forwarded to 
every regimental head-quarters in the United Kingdom, it is yet un¬ 
doubtedly the case that many men pass out of the ranks without having 
had the advantages of the corps brought to their individual notice. It is 
hoped, therefore, that the following brief remarks may assist in 
making the work and objects of the corps better known among the 
junior officers of the Regiment so that their influence may be brought 
to bear on their men to induce them to qualify themselves, while with 
their batteries, for further service as commissionaires after passing 
from the army. 
The “ Annual circular of the Corps of Commissionaires for 1898/’ 
which was published in August last, contains carefully tabulated 
details of the history and work of the corps since it was established in 
1860, by its founder and present commanding officer, Sir Edward 
Walter. In that year eighty-nine men were enrolled in its ranks, 
each succeeding year seeing an increase in the numbers added to the 
corps, the total strength on the 1st January, 1898, being 2,351. The 
following is the distribution of this number 
London 
. 1539 
Belfast 
45 
Birmingham 
131 
Edinburgh 
57 
Glasgow 
130 
Leeds 
111 
Liverpool 
96 
Manchester 
166 
Newcastle 
31 
Nottingham 
. « < 45 
5. VOL. XXVJ. 
