GENERAL RUSSELLI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether the regular Army and Militia are at this moment up to the full establishments voted by Parliament; and, if not, how many men are deficient in each ser vice respectively.
§ * MR. WYNDHAMOn the 1st July the Army was 16,884, the Militia 19,236 below the establishments voted. The hon. and gallant Member will recollect that so far as the Army is concerned the estimates for this year and for last year were presented to Parliament in a new form which gives, not the establishment for the year in question, but the ultimate establishment to be reached when the programmes of 1897, 1898, and 1899 shall have been completed, and that the date anticipated for that completion is the year 1901–2.