§ MR. PIRIE (Aberdeen. N.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether, in the experiment which was made to ascertain the approximate true 1332 age of proposed recruits for enlistment recognition was given to the necessity of making the production of reliable testimony as to age dependent upon acceptance of the recruit; whether, in view of the importance of the question, he will consider the advisability of carrying it out as far as is found possible, and stating on the recruit's attestation paper the proof by which his age was arrived at, so that at least the percentage of men whose correct age is known should be ascertained, and that a safeguard should be given against the despatch of soldiers to India and abroad under the age prescribed by the regulations; can he state how it is intended to determine the correct time at which the proposed pensions are to become due; and whether steps could be taken for arriving at the correct age of the large majority of recruits, seeing that the correct ages of children are ascertained in schools and under the Factory Act.
LORD STANLEYThe acceptance of a recruit is not dependent on the production of a birth certificate, nor could it be made so. It would be quite impracticable to keep recruits waiting while inquiries wore being made for the certificates. In the experiment referred to it was impossible to obtain the certificates in the case of forty-five per cent. of the eases taken, and of the rest fifteen per cent, were very doubtful. The medical officer states what he considers, after careful examination, to be the apparent age on the attestation. The age given by the recruit on oath is held to be his true age for reckoning Army service, and the qualifying period for the age pensions will depend on this.