§ LORD ELCHOasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether under the present system of officering the Regular Army it is not competent to the Secretary of State, and the Military authorities at the Horse Guards, to raise the examinations for first Commissions and promotions to any required standards; and whether these standards have not been altered from time to time, and within a comparatively recent date; whether under the present system the Commander-in-Chief has not at the Horse Guards confidential reports which enable him to judge of the fitness of officers to command a regiment; and whether he has not also a veto on the succession or appointment of any inefficient or incompetent officer to a regimental command; whether under the present system Commissions are not annually 1259 thrown open to public competition and given away without payment; and whether there is anything in the present system which would prevent an increased number of Commissions being thus given away; whether under the present system Commissions are not given or offered to deserving non-commissioned officers, and whether there is anything in the present system that would prevent an increased number of Commissions being thus bestowed on deserving non-commissioned officers should it be thought advisable; and, whether under the present system Commissions in the reserve forces are not held by officers who have served in the regular Army; and whether there is anything in the present system which would prevent the Secretary of State from allowing an officer of the regular Army to retire on half-pay at any time on the condition of his undertaking to serve in the reserve forces?
§ MR. CARDWELLThe answer, Sir, to the first two Questions is "Yes;" but I may add, as this is an argumentative Question, that it appears to me, if the views of the noble Lord and his Friends are correct, the hardship of failure in the one case, and of the veto in the other, is greater under the present than it would be under a different system. The answer to the two next is that the number of non-purchase commissions is not sufficient even to meet the requirements of the Royal Commission on Military Education; that these commissions carry purchase rights; that if an increased number be provided it must be at the public cost, which, in my opinion, would not be provident until the purchase rights shall have been extinguished. The answer to the last Question is that, under the present system, the appointments are made by the Lord Lieutenant of the county, and while this is the case no system can be introduced for appointing officers from the Army to the Militia. What is wanted is a system which, while it makes sufficient provision for the local considerations involved, will secure that the Militia shall be officered by professionally-trained officers.