§ SIR HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, if the substitution in all official documents of territorial designations for the old numbers of regiments in the Standing Army, and attributed to the present Commander-in-Chief when Adjutant-General, has been highly successful in developing esprit de corps, local recruiting, and local interest in the welfare of individual corps; and, in such case, why the territorial or distinctive names of regiments of Volunteers, which for their success depend especially on local pride, are officially ignored and numbers substituted?
§ * THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. BRODRICK, Surrey, Guildford)Territorial or distinctive instead of numerical designations have been adopted with satisfactory results for all regiments of Regular Infantry, and have been accepted with a few exceptions by the Volunteer Infantry affiliated to them. The King's Royal Rifles and the Rifle Brigade, together with the Volunteers affiliated to them, retain their original titles. The question of the titles of Volunteer battalions is now under the consideration of a Departmental Committee. ["Hear, hear!"]