§ MR. WIGGIN (Staffordshire, Handsworth)asked the Secretary of State for War, What number of Volunteers have applied to go into camp as compared with last year; whether the camp allowance for regimental camps has been reduced to 75 per cent. of the number of men applied for; whether the deficiency will have to be provided for out of the private funds of the battalions concerned; what number of Volunteers have been authorized to encamp with Regular troops this year compared with last; what is the difference in the cost to the country for Volunteers attending a camp with Regular troops as compared with an ordinary regimental camp; and, whether he can see his way to give the full camp allowance for regimental camps, as in previous years?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)Applications to go into camp have been received this year for 107,199 Volunteers. Last year the number was 104,428. The amount authorized has been 75 per cent. of the allowance at 2s. a day on the whole number for whom application has been received for the whole periods asked for. The deficiency, when it is not met, as it can be, by a reduction in the number going into camp or in the time passed there, will have to be met from private sources. 20 Fifteen thousand Volunteers have this year been authorized to encamp with Regular troops, as compared with 7,555 last year. With the Regular Forces a Volunteer receives a sum of 10s., rations, and extra travelling allowances, with, if an officer, field allowances, and, if a mounted officer, forage. In a regimental camp the grant is 2s. a day for not more than six days, with 2s. 6d. for travelling allowance, or in some circumstances 5s. Probably the total cost per head with Regular troops exceeds, on the average, twice that incurred in a regimental camp; but the comparison is difficult.