§ LORD GARLIESasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is not a fact that an estimate has been prepared in the War Office of the probable cost of a scheme for promotion and retirement rendered necessary by the abolition of purchase in the Army, which tends to show that it is likely to cause an annual expenditure of from £800,000 to £1,000,000; and, if this be so, whether he will object to laving it upon the Table of the House?
§ MR. CARDWELLSir, no estimate has been prepared at the War Office tending to show that the probable increased cost of promotion and retirement caused by the abolition of purchase will, as compared with the present cost, amount to such a sum as is suggested in the Question of the noble Lord. I have repeatedly stated the reason which has prevented my laying upon the Table any such estimate—namely, the absence of any basis on which such an estimate could, in my opinion, be framed so as to be entitled to the confidence of the House.