§ SIR HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he can explain why the Imperial Yeomanry Order has been issued before the House of Commons has had the opportunity of considering the effect of the proposal upon the Volunteer Force and the possibility of getting recruits for the Yeomanry under the new conditions, and in what way commanding officers of Volunteer corps are to be compensated for having at the invitation of the War Office raised within the past few months, at great expense and trouble, companies of mounted infantry, and supplying them with uniform and accoutrements in consideration of a certain number of years service under them; and whether the Government have power compulsorily to transfer men who have joined particular regiments of the Volunteer force, and bound themselves to serve for four or five years, to another regiment and to another branch of the Army, serving under entirely different conditions.
§ The following questions also appeared on the Paper:—
§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSON (Dundee)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether the Army Order relating to the Yeomanry published on Thursday forms part of the scheme formulated in the resolution of which he has given notice for a future day; and, if so, why he has proceeded to put in execution a 781 policy which has not yet received the approval of the House.
§ COLONEL WELBY (Taunton)To ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he is aware that an Amendment to the motion of the Secretary of State for War (Army Organisation) to retain the Yeomanry as at present, and to increase the Mounted Infantry to 25,000, instead of the 35,000 Yeomanry as proposed, was put on the Notice Paper before the recess, and whether he will suspend the Army Order issued yesterday until the House has had the opportunity of discussing this question.
§ MR. BRODRICKI will reply at the same time to the questions of the hon. Member for Dundee and of my hon. and gallant friend the Member for Taunton. It has been necessary to issue an Army Order affecting the Yeomanry because the training of the force for the year begins in May, and the Commander-in-Chief has strongly recommended that the training and equipment of the force should be altered. The change in the status of the Yeomanry undoubtedly forms part of the general army reform now in progress, but the resolution of which I have given notice deals merely with the establishment of the Yeomanry. The present establishment will not be raised until the resolution is passed by Parliament, but it would be impossible to allow the training of the Yeomanry to proceed or the recruits to be raised under the old system which has been definitely abandoned. The question of establishment and the points raised by the Member for Taunton are open to debate and decision, as they were before the issue of the Order, which cannot be suspended. In reference to the question of the Member for Central Sheffield, there is nothing in the Yeomanry Warrant which forces a transfer of Volunteer Mounted Infantry to Yeomanry, but the military authorities are not prepared to continue the isolated companies of mounted troops hitherto raised, and if commanding officers can prove a pecuniary loss to their corps, they will be safe guarded against this result. I may add that from all parts of the country, and from many Members of the House, I have received urgent appeals that, on the 782 ground of expense as well as convenience, the new system of training and equipment of the Yeomanry should be at once made public.