§ MR. WHITLEY (Liverpool, Everton)asked the Secretary of State for War whether it is a fact that certain Officers of the late Commissariat, of many years' service, and of irreproachable character, have been passed over, and their places offered to young men of only a few months' departmental service; whether it is a fact that many of those officers not selected for the new corps have hitherto been officially reported upon most favourably; and whether he can state to what causes the rejection of these officers is due?
§ MR. E. STANHOPEIt is quite incorrect that the places of any senior officers have been offered to young men of only a few months' departmental service. A vacant step in the rank of Colonel in the Army Service Corps has been filled by the selection from the next junior rank of the first officer in the list considered fitted and qualified for the position. This selection was made in accordance with custom, and the ex-1368 press provision of the Royal Warrant under which the old Commissariat and Transport Staff are now serving. Permanent appointments in the new Army Service Corps were offered to some 52 out of the 70 officers already seconded from their regiments for temporary service with the Commissariat and Transport Staff, and of that number only some 30 have accepted them; but the whole of the officers so serving have been given the option of continuing to serve with the Army Service Corps for the same period, and under the same conditions, as those of their original appointments to the corps. The number of permanent appointments offered was fixed with due regard to the best interests of the public service, and the rights of officers who were serving with the Commissariat and Transport Staff have been carefully guarded.