§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether officers appointed to command brigades of troops at home and in the colonies abroad are, prior to being gazetted, subjected to any medical examination as to their entire physical fitness for field service, and whether their powers of horsemanship and general activity are specially reported on by the officer who recommends them for the command of brigades.
§ *MR. WYNDHAMAll colonels are examined as to their physical fitness before being promoted to major-general. After this they are not examined unless there is some reason to doubt their fitness. There is no "officer who recommends for the command of brigades." Selections for these appointments are made by the Army Board, under the presidency of the Commander-in-Chief, and subject to the approval of the Secretary of State, and this board is fully acquainted with the horsemanship and other qualifications of the officers it recommends.