COLONEL NORTHsaid, he begged to ask the hon. Under Secretary for War if it was the intention of Her Majesty's Government to grant that part of the return moved for by the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Layard), which requires, in each case, since the commencement of the war, the reasons to be given for which such commission was granted without purchase?
§ MR. FREDERICK PEEL, in reply, said, that, according to the only interpretation he could put upon the words of the Motion of the hon. Member for Aylesbury there would be no objection to grant the return asked for. He understood that the hon. Member desired to know the reasons why commissions were given without purchase, and the only answer that could be given was, that they were given without purchase, either because the original holder of a commission died, or on account of the augmentation of the various regiments, and the consequent creation of new commissions. The hon. Gentleman did not ask why commissions granted without purchase were given to particular officers, and indeed it would be impossible to enter into the reasons why one individual officer had been preferred to another in granting a commission without purchase.