§ GENERAL LAURIE (Pembrokeshire, Haverford west)I beg to ask the Under Secretary for War whether the 2nd Battalion Manchester Regiment and 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment are part of the 8th Division now about to be despatched to South Africa, and whether the linked battalions of these two regiments are already serving there; whether there are any exceptional reasons that have induced the military authorities to select these two battalions for active service under the conditions above named, when within the last few days it has been stated that the War Office consider it is undesirable to send a battalion to South Africa if it can 907 be avoided when another battalion of the same regiment is already there; and what number of men it has been found necessary to draw from the Army and Militia Reserves to bring them up respectively to war strength.
*MR. J. POWELL-WILLIAMSThe battalions in question proceed to South Africa as part of the 8th Division. They belong to four battalion regiments, in each of which two of the battalions will remain at home. They will require 456 and 498 men respectively from the Army Reserve, but none from the Militia Reserve.
§ GENERAL LAURIEMay I ask when the 3rd and 4th Battalions were raised?