To provide for a steady flow of reinforce ments to the troops in France, and for the care of wounded and sick, an extensive estab lishment was maintained in England, over which after the autumn of 1916 a Minister of the Canadian Cabinet presided. with the title of Minister of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada. At one time a fifth division was formed, but the need for drafts to keep the other divisions up to establishment was so great that it was broken up. The establishment in England comprised numerous training schools, and the general policy settled upon in 1917 and 1918 was to forward recruits from Canada to the United Kingdom as soon after their em bodiment as convenient, so as to receive their training close to the fighting. This was part of a general reorganization, more especially of the infantry. At first the method of recruit ment was to authorize the raising of numerous single unrelated battalions, and in all more than 250 such battalions were formed. The four divisions in the field comprised no more than 52 battalions of infantry and pioneers, and these were reinforced whenever depleted; as a necessary consequence on arriving in England four-fifths of the infantry units raised were either converted into depot or reserve bat talions, or were broken up to furnish drafts for the battalions in the fighting divisions: a course which entailed considerable hardships upon the senior officers of corps so treated, as the majority of them could not obtain employ ment in France. In 1917 the raising of new battalions was discontinued and the whole of the Canadian infantry were organized in 12 territorial regiments, each of several battalions. These regiments were : The Western Ontario Regiment ; the 1st Central Ontario Regiment; the 2d Central Ontario Regiment ; the Eastern Ontario Regiment; the 1st Quebec Regiment; the 2d Quebec Regiment ; the Nova Scotia Regi ment; the New Brunswick Regiment; the Manitoba Regiment ; the British Columbia Regiment; the Saskatchewan Regiment; the Alberta Regiment. Each of these regiments had several fighting battalions in France, one or more reserve battalions in England, and one or more depot battalions in Canada. By this arrangement steadier and more equitable rela tions were established between the several services of procuring men, training them and employing them in battle. Canada maintained in England and France numerous auxiliary services, such as hospitals, Y. M. C. A. huts, etc. In addition to the forces despatched to Europe, the Dominion contributed to the gar risons of Bermtida and the West Indian island of Saint Lucia. Many individual Canadians obtained commissions in the forces of the United Kingdom, the air services in particular attracting several thousand men.
The reorganization just described coincided with a change in the method of recruitment from voluntary enlistment to compulsory serv ice. At the outset recruiting was voluntary and in 1914 and 1915 great eagerness was shown. In all about 375,000 effective recruits were obtained in this manner, or more than 5 per cent of the population. In 1916 the stream of enlistment slackened and in 1917 the government decided to have recourse to com pulsion. After some delay due to political difficulties the Military Service Act was passed, and its operations began in October 1917. The general principle was that 100,000 men were to be drafted from the unmarried men of the country between the ages of 20 and 34; liberal provision was made for exemption on grounds of medical unfitness, the dependence of others upon the draftee, indispensability for purposes of food production, war industries, etc. A system of tribunals was set up, the general prin ciple of administration being that the draftees were obtained by the civil power, and by it turned over to the military authorities, who did not themselves come into contact with the civilian population. The military authorities on receiving the recruits so produced outfitted them in depot battalions, gave them preliminary training, and sent them to Great Britain in comparatively small drafts. In 1916, toward
the close of voluntary enlistment, replacement troops were sent across the Atlantic at the rate of about 10,000 a month; in the early months of 1918, when the new system was beginning to work well, the rate of reinforce ment was about the same. Side by side with compulsory service volunteering persisted and was encouraged; those coming forward volun tarily principally into the air forces and special services.
A feature of Canadian participation in the war has been the unexpected production of munitions of war. Soon after the outbreak of the war the then Minister of Militia, Maj. Gen., the Hon. Sir Sam Hughes, formed a shell committee, composed mainly of manufacturers, and this body, acting for the British government, placed large orders for munitions, both in Canada and in the United States. In the latter part of 1915 it was re modelled, the new organization being styled the Imperial munitions board. The two bodies were remarkably successful in inducing and en couraging Canadian industries originally de signed for peaceful purposes to turn to the malting of munitions. Up to the end of January 1918 the orders given to firms in Canada and the United States aggregated rather over a $1,000,000,000. It may be added that the voluntary giving of the people of Canada to Red Cross, Belgium Relief, the Canadian Patriotic Fund [an organization for caring for soldiers' dependents] so far have been about $50,000,000.
Naval Canada took little inter est in the question of helping with the naval defense of the empire until March 1909. The excitement which arose in England in that month over the naval rivalry of Germany deeply impressed Canadian public opinion, and the Canadian House of Commons by a unan imous resolution approved the principle of par ticipation. In the autumn of 1909 representa tives of the Canadian government attended the defense conference of the several parts of the empire held in London, and as a result the government of the day put forward in 1910 a project for the establishment of a separate Canadian navy; two old cruisers, the Niobe of 11,000 and the Rainbow of 3,600 tons, were bought to serve as training ships, and it was proposed to build in Canada four light cruisers of the Bristol class and six destroyers. In time of war this force was to be placed under the British Admiralty. A number of officers were borrowed from the Royal Navy, and a few hundred men enrolled, many of these also coming from the British navy. This proposal encountered political resistance on two grounds, one school of thought regarding it as insufficient, and another school disliking any contribution to naval defense. The ad ministration was defeated at the polls in 1911 and retired without having ordered the ships. The administration which suc ceeded it consulted the Imperial govern ment afresh, and in 1912 proposed to drop the idea of a separate navy and to present to the British navy a gift of three battleships. The opposition resisted this, putting forward an alternative plan for a Canadian navy of 2 battle cruisers, 6 light cruisers and 12 destroyers. The proposal of the government passed the House of Commons, but was re jected by the Senate, in which the opposition commanded a majority. The great war began before any further steps were taken by the government. On the outbreak of hostilities the Canadian naval forces — the two cruisers al ready mentioned and two Submarines hastily purchased from an American shipyard on the Pacific coast, with some hundred seamen— were placed at the disposal of the Admiralty. The Canadian vessels took part in the patrol ling of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans for the protection of commerce. The department of the Naval Service administered the movement of ships from Canada to Great Britain.