§ COLONEL LOCKWOOD (Essex, Epping)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if he will state the percentage of recruits between the ages of 20 and 25 that pass through hospital; and what is the percentage of recruits admitted sick during their first year of service?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. BRODRICK,) Surrey, GuildfordThe medical returns do not treat recruits separately from 1461 other soldiers. The admissions to hospital vary so greatly in the different foreign commands that any percentage based upon averages would be misleading; but as regards the United Kingdom for the last year for which the returns are made up, 1894, the admissions per cent. of soldiers between 20 and 25 years old was 94.5, and of soldiers in their first year of service 87.6. But these figures include men who were admitted several times over, and we have no returns to show the proportion of men per cent. admitted.