HC Deb 20 February 1882 vol 266 cc1092-3
SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFF

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty, If, on the occasion of the Volunteer Review at Portsmouth, a holiday will be given to the persons employed in Her Majesty's Dockyard?

MR. TREVELYAN

I can only answer that the locality where the Easter Monday Review is to be held, as far as I can learn from the War Office, has not yet been settled. When it has been settled the matter referred to by the hon. Gentleman will be duly considered.

MR. SCLATER-BOOTH

subsequently asked the Secretary of State for War. Whether the advantages offered by the situation of Aldershot for holding the Volunteer Review on Easter Monday have been taken into consideration at the War Office; and, whether any decision on the subject has been arrived at; and, if not, how soon a decision will be made?

MR. CHILDERS

In reply to the right hon. Gentleman, I have to state that the selection of a site for the Easter Review is more for the colonels of Volunteer Corps than for the War Department, although my consent is necessary. We, however, intimated to the Metropolitan Volunteer Commanding Officers, by an official letter addressed to Lord Ranelagh, on the 9th of February, that a proposition would shortly be made, inviting a number of corps to join in the contemplated manœuvres at Aldershot in August, and that it would be well that they should consider whether the proposition would affect the scheme for the Easter Review. The proposals in question were sent to the General commanding the Home District on the 18th instant, and I hope that they will be considered by the colonels of Volunteers before they decide on the detailed arrangements of the Easter Review. It will be very desirable to give the Volunteers an opportunity of co-operating with the Regular Forces on the occasion of the manœuvres now about to be renewed, after an interval of six years.