§ Colonel SANDYS (Lancashire, Bootle)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that, in some of the reserve battalions, majors in the Army have been put on duty as subalterns; that in the reserve battalions seniority is not regarded, and the latest joined officers are put over the heads of officers senior to them in the Army; and that in the reserve battalions officers and men from different regiments are mixed up indiscriminately in the same reserve battalion, to the detriment of regimental esprit; and if there is any reason why there, should not be a reserve battalion for each regiment of the Line, formed exclusively from officers, non-commissioned officers and men who have served together in that regiment before.
§ *MR. WYNDHAMAs there were hardly any officers of the rank of subaltern in the reserve, majors have been obliged to do duty as subalterns. Seniority in the reserve battalions within each rank depends on the date of joining such battalion for duty. Officers and men are not mixed up indiscriminately; the various territorial corps have been grouped to form battalions, as the unequal numbers joining from the several corps have rendered the formation of a reserve battalion for each regiment impossible.