COLONEL CLIVEasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether the "preliminary Annual Return, which will shortly be issued," alluded to in the footnote on page o of the Annual Report of the Inspector General of Recuiting, dated 28th February 1884, will contain information as to the age, height, and weight of recruits enlisted in 1883, in continuation of Appendix C of the Report of the Inspector General of Recruiting, dated 1st March 1883; or, if not, in what form will this important information be given this year?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONSir, the preliminary Annual Return will show the ages of recruits passed into the Service in 1883. The statistics relative to their height and weight will not be ready at the time the preliminary Return is issued. It will, however, contain a statement of the height and chest measurement of men serving in the Army at home on the 1st of January, 1884. It is not practicable, under present arrangements, to give detailed statistics concerning the men enlisted in a year so soon after its close as the period when the Inspector General of Recruiting reports; and the information on these heads given in his Report of the 1st of March, 1883, did not refer to a later year than 1881. The information is always given in the Annual Report of the Army Medical Department, which is presented to Parliament later in the year; but I will endeavour to make arrangements so that in future years the preliminary Annual Return shall contain the particulars to which the hon. and gallant Member refers.