§ MR. M'CRAE (Edinburgh, E.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether it has been decided by the Secretary of State for War that all officers in the Imperial Yeomanry, C.I.V., or service companies of Volunteers, who do not already hold a commission in the Regulars or Militia must enlist as private soldiers, and will afterwards receive temporary commissions to the ranks to which they are promoted; and whether any sufficient reason can be given for singling out officers of Volunteers, who after all hold Her Majesty's commission, for this treatment, to which officers of the Militia battalions are apparently to be exempted.
§ MR. LEES KNOWLES (Salford, W.)I beg at the same time to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether an order has been issued stating that Volunteer officers not holding line or Militia commissions who wish to volunteer for active service must do so as privates, and that on conforming with such order they will receive acting commissions; if so, whether or not such acting commissions would carry with them the usual provisions made for an officer of the line of the same rank on active service with regard to pay, allowances, pension, &c.; and whether, on return from active service a Volunteer officer would lose seniority or might find that, his place having been filled in his absence, there was no vacancy for him in his own corps.
§ * MR. WYNDHAMIn replying to this question I will at the same time answer the question put by my hon. friend the Member for the West Division of Salford. The Volunteer Act only applies to service in Great Britain, and confers no power outside it. It was therefore necessary to enlist Volunteer officers, and to give them acting commissions. They are given temporary Army rank, and enjoy the corresponding privileges as to pay, &c. On rejoining they will not lose seniority but will be held as supernumerary in the same way as officers of the Regular Army on rejoining from extra-regimental employment.