§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether two majors from other regiments who have not been in active service in the present war have been gazetted lieutenant-colonels of the Inniskilling Fusiliers, over the heads of the men who have fought in the Natal campaign; whether the gentlemen thus promoted are of scarcely longer standing in the Army than the officers of the Inniskillings to whom they have been preferred, one of whom is an officer of twenty-one years' service; and whether the importation of officers from other regiments will retard, if not destroy, the chances of promotion of Captain Jones, who was one of the three survivors out of the ten officers on the right on Pieter's Hill, and who commanded what remained of the almost annihilated regiment on the next morning.
§ MR. WYNDHAMTwo officers were appointed from other regiments to command the two battalions of this regiment on the 27th January and the 21st March respectively. In respect to Captain Jones I cannot speculate on the effect these promotions may have on an officer who is seventh on the list.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI make no imputation on the officers, but was not one brought from India, and who had not been in South Africa at all?
§ MR. WYNDHAMThat hardly arises out of my reply. The command of a battalion is a very important post, and in filling it we must be guided by the advice of the Army Board.