§ COLOSEL WELBY (Taunton)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for War whether commissions in the Royal Artillery have been given to subalterns of the Artillery Militia who had failed to pass the literary examination which qualifies Militia officers to compete for commissions in the Regulars, and to Militia officers who were University candidates, without their passing the competitive examination for such commissions; 509 and, whether he can say on what principle these exceptions are made?
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe increase of the establishment of the Royal Artillery created, last year, a greater demand for officers than could be supplied from the Royal Military Academy and from officers in the Militia Artillery who had qualified in the literary examination. It has, therefore, been found necessary to give Artillery commissions to Militia Artillery officers who had qualified for the Line; and, more rarely, to Militia Artillery officers specially recommended for military efficiency, without any examination. No Artillery commissions have been given to University candidates without examination; but, since the number of the Line commissions offered to the Universities was not exceeded at the last examination by the number of such candidates, there was no competition. So long as our exceptional demand for officers continues, it must be met by exceptional measures.