§ GENERAL BUCKLEYsaid, he wished to ash the Secretary of State for War, Whether, at the recent examination of Cadets at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, forty having an examination fitting them for Commissions without Purchase, the Commander-in-Chief informed them only twenty could be provided with Commissions without Purchase, in consequence of the Secretary of State for War not putting more than that number at his disposal?
§ MR. SIDNEY HERBERTSir, the facts of the case are these. A certain number of Commissions are set apart to be competed for at Sandhurst, but that number it is quite evident must very much depend upon the number of Commissions without purchase which may be vacant. On the particular occasion to which the hon. and gallant Gentleman's question relates, it was announced that none of those young men who had not succeeded in obtaining 3,000 marks would be entitled to receive Commissions, even though they should be among the number of competitors who, under other circumstances, would be so entitled. Twenty Commissions were fixed upon and announced to the Governor of Sandhurst as the number to be competed for, and His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge stated at the recent examination that only that number could be alloted. The young men at Sandhurst seemed, however, to be under the impression that as it had been announced that those among them who had not succeeded in securing 3,000 marks would not be entitled to receive a Commission, the converse held good, and that all those who had obtained 3,000 marks would be entitled. Now, that expectation could not be realized; but I may state that since the examination eleven vacancies have taken place, and instead of there being only twenty there are now thirty Commissions to be allotted to the Cadets at Sandhurst, which is rather in excess of the number usually set apart for them.