§ MR. ARNOLD FORSTER (Belfast, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the Official Report made to the Department of Militia and Defence of the Dominion of Canada by Major-General Hutton, commanding the Canadian Militia, and specially to the 1121 passage therein relating to recruiting for the Imperial Service, in which he states that it has been proposed by the Imperial Government that recruiting for the Prince of Wales's (Leinster Regiment, Royal Canadians) shall he open to British subjects in the Dominion of Canada, and that complete arrangements for carrying this out have been prepared, and will be published as soon as the final instruction and the requisite official form have been received; and whether Major-General Hutton is correctly informed, and whether this statement was made by him with the knowledge or under the authority of the Colonial Office?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN,) Birmingham, W.I have seen the statement in Major-General Hutton's Report referred to in the Question. A suggestion of the nature described in that statement had been the subject of discussion between Her Majesty's Government and the Canadian Government, and I presume that General Hutton made the statement in the belief that a decision had been arrived at, which was not the case.