§ CAPTAIN PIRIEI beg to ask the Under Secretary for War whether he will state the average ago at enlistment of the 402 young soldiers by whom, or upon whose behalf, applications to be released from their engagements were made in 1896, on the ground that they had enlisted below the age of 18 years; and the number of such applications which were acceded to; and whether it is a fact that a boy named Tyrrell was enlisted for the cavalry in May 1896, giving his age as 18 years; that his parents made application for his discharge in February 1897, stating that he was a mere child, giving proof by the production of his birth certificate that his actual age on enlistment was 15 years and 1 month, and that 751 the boy was then discharged after serving for 10 months; and, if this is so, whether he will inquire into the matter, with a view to stopping in the future such wilful disregard of the regulations for enlistment which is becoming so prevalent?
§ MR. BRODRICKThe average age of the 402 young soldiers cannot readily be given; but the following details regarding them may meet the hon. Member's requirements:—172 were discharged as under 17 years, 155 were discharged as between 17 and 18 years; and 75 between 17 and 18 years of age were retained. The case of the boy Tyrrell is as stated in the Questions. He gave his age as 18 years, and his physical development was so fully the equivalent of that age as to deceive the medical officer. There was no wilful disregard of regulations, and the number of enlistments under age has decreased of late years.
§ CAPTAIN PIRIEasked whether, if the discharge of Tyrrell had not been applied for on the eve of the leaving of the regiment for India, the boy would have been sent to India?
§ MR. BRODRICKsaid that if the boy deliberately told a he and said his age was 18, and if his physical development were up to the standard of that age, as there were no means by which the medical officer could discover the year in which the boy was born, the boy would of course have been sent to India. ["Hear, hear!"]
§ CAPTAIN PIRIEI cannot argue the question — [Ministerial cheers] — and, therefore, I give notice that as the Government have taken—
§ * MR. SPEAKEROrder, order! The hon. Member cannot give notice in that manner.