§ COLONEL NORTHsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, Whether the recommendations contained in Paragraphs 15 and 18 of the Report from the Select Committee on Military Reserve Funds have been carried into effect—namely, that the Reserve Fund should be wound up and the balance paid into the Exchequer; and, if so, whether a sufficient sum has been taken in the Army Estimates to defray all payments formerly charged on the Reserve Fund?
§ MR. CARDWELLSir, the recommendations of the Committee have not been carried into effect by carrying the balance to the Consolidated Fund, as I thought the Reserve Fund was affected with a trust for the officers of the Army, by whose contributions it has been raised, and ought not to be paid into the public account. The course actually adopted has been this—Last year, for the first time, the application of the fund was submitted to the control of Parliament in one of the Votes. It is not at present in an affluent state owing to the recent reductions in the Army. The only increment asked for from the Votes is for the purpose of purchasing first commissions rendered vacant by the reduction in the number of subaltern, officers.