§ SIR JAMES RANKIN (Herefordshire, Leominster)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether Militiamen have been and are being sent out to serve in South Africa at the age of eighteen years, whereas linesmen are not sent until the age of twenty years; and if this is so, is it because the Militia recruits are stronger men than the linesmen, or for what other reason.
LORD STANLEYMilitiamen are sent out at the age of eighteen and linesmen at twenty, though in some cases the latter limit has been reduced to nineteen and a half. Militiamen are intended primarily for the lines of communication, 955 and have been for the most part so employed; no question of physique is involved.