§ MAJOR O'BEIRNEasked the Secretary of State for War, If there be a Regulation of the Service in force subjecting any non-commissioned officer or soldier of good character, and in any branch of the Service, who marries without leave, to the penalty of having his name struck off permanently from the married strength of the Army?
§ COLONEL STANLEY, in reply, said, that he had not much to add to what he said yesterday. There was no such Regulation as the hon. and gallant Member spoke of; but, no doubt, there was a rule under which non-commissioned officers and soldiers lost certain advantages unless they obtained the consent of their commanding officers to the marriage before it took place. That was the effect of the Circular of 1871; but, as a matter of fact, men who had married without leave were, if their conduct was satisfactory, in nine cases out of ten, appointed to the vacant places on the married strength of the regiment as they occurred.