§ SIR JOHN LENG (Dundee)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that a large number of men in Section D of the Army Reserve, who, on the completion of their first period of service, were re-engaged for four years only, their attestation paper stating that the service was to be for Home defence, having been sent out to South Africa, are now detained beyond the period for which they were engaged; whether there is anything in the attestation paper on this subject; whether there is any intention of giving compensation to the men of Section D so detained, who consider they have been unfairly treated; and whether, on completing their seventeenth year of service, they will have some additional allowance in the way of pension or otherwise.
LORD STANLEYI am not aware that there are any men of Section D of the Army Reserve serving in South Africa or detained with the Colours contrary to the terms of their engagement. Men of this section are liable, as shown by their attestation paper, to serve in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, and to be retained for an extra year if a state of war exists when their four years engagement expires. It is not proposed to compensate them in respect of this extra year's service, seeing that they accepted the liability for it and received a retaining fee.