§ MR. POWELL WILLIAMS (Birmingham, S.)In the absence of the noble Lord the Member for West Edinburgh I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether other corps in the Edinburgh district were below their establishments when a Volunteer Engineer Corps for Leith was sanctioned in 1888 and put on the establishments by the War Office, and withdrawn owing to opposition of local Volunteer Commanding Officers now removed; are certain corps in the Edinburgh district always below their establishments, and not more so at present than is usually the ease; and whether the citizens of Edinburgh and Leith are deprived of the opportunity of serving their country as Engineer Volunteers because they will not complete the establishments of certain local corps of other arms?
§ *MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANThe answer to the first two questions is in the affirmative. With regard to the point raised in the third question, the two companies of Fortress Engineers which it was desired to raise in 1888 in Edinburgh and Leith, but which were not raised there because of local difficulties, have been otherwise provided. In view of the great extent to which the various corps in the neighbourhood are below their full establishment—the deficiency amounting to nearly 2,000 771 men—it has not been thought desirable for some time past to sanction the formation of new companies, and several applications have been refused.