§ MR. ARTHUR LEEI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War what is the basis of the official estimate, given by the Secretary of State for the Colonies on behalf of the Government, that to increase the number of men annually trained in the manner in which the Special Reserve is trained, to a figure which would ultimately produce a total of 1,000,000 men thus trained and still available for service, would entail an addition of £20,000,000 to the Array Estimates.
§ MR. HALDANEThis rough estimate was based on the estimated normal annual cost per head of the present Special Reserve.
§ MR. ARTHUR LEEasked whether to train 150,000 men annually for this cost per head would not produce a total of £4,250,000, not £20,000,000.
§ MR. HALDANEwas understood to reply that, worked out on the basis of the 1240 Special Reserve, the cost would be over £20 per head, which would give £20,000,000 for 1,000,000 men.
§ MR. ARTHUR LEEBut I ask the right hon. Gentleman not what it would cost to train 1,000,000 men every year but sufficient men to produce 1,000,000 men eventually for service.
§ MR. HALDANEIt is to that figure I have addressed my Answer. To keep going 1,000,000 men in the country it would cost on an average over £20 per man a year.
§ MR. ARTHUR LEEMay I ask why it should cost £20 a year to train a man-one of a million—and only £9 a year to train a man for the Special Reserve?
§ MR. HALDANEThe hon. and gallant Member has quite misunderstood my Answer. I said it cost nearly £28 for the initial training of the Special Reserve; it cost £9 thereafter; If you take into account wastage, the cost works out at something over £20 a year for the average Special Reservist, counting together those who are under training and those who are in the Reserve. With 1,000,000 men you would soon have to provide additional barrack accommodation.