§ I will put the points one by one of what it is that Lord Roberts, as Commander-in-Chief, is anxious to achieve. We have for the first time recognised that the Volunteer force should be placed to a large extent in the first line in case of invasion. If we are to do that, we must be certain of the value of the troops we put there. Now, Sir, the mere performance of a certain number of routine drills is not sufficient. We have raised the company drill to twenty men, and we were told that that was impossible. We will meet any ordinary difficulty; if twenty men cannot be got from one company, let them he got from several companies; but we will not recognise company drill of ten or twelve men as company drill.
§ * MR. BRODRICKMy hon. and gallant friend must not take as personal remarks which are true of certain corps with which I am illustrating the difficulties with which we are dealing. I go further, and say that men are allowed to count drills when they come in at 8.25 to a drill which concludes at 8.30. These things we cannot undertake to recognise, and, generally speaking, we cannot accept mere parade movements as being sufficient to fit Volunteer officers to command their Company over an extended line of country. My hon. and gallant friend himself, who has got an admirable corps, many of the men of which have seen service in South Africa, 393 and have been excellently reported upon —my hon. friend himself, who makes great exertions to take his men out for two or three days if he cannot do more, told me that it was no use ordering him to drill half his regiment in battalion together, for he could not get more than one-third of them into the drill-hall, which is the only place where they can drill. If that be so, if battalion drill is worth anything, then my hon. and gallant friend must somehow or other be enabled to exercise his men; but it is no use saying, "Because I cannot exercise them, you must not insist, but you must call me efficient." My hon. and gallant friend made a speech the other day in which he said these regulations must be acted up to if possible, but he also said, on the other hand, "We all know Volunteers are looked upon as the one bulwark against conscription," and he said he for one would defend the country from conscription to the last breath. But, if that is the view of commanding officers of Volunteers, they must not at the same time say what is the efficiency which will enable us to do without conscription. What we ask is this—the Commander-in-Chief inculcated the necessity of Volunteers going from time to time into ramp. A Committee has been sitting to consider our regulations. If it is not possible for Volunteers to conform with them in larger numbers, they must be ready to face some reduction in numbers if we can get more efficiency. It is more to our purpose to get a somewhat smaller body of men and a force on which we can entirely rely. I hope before leaving this subject I may be allowed to say that I speak in no unsympathetic spirit. Anything which is brought before me as regards a genuine financial difficulty of a corps shall have my most careful consideration. But let us aim at efficiency, if necessary with smaller numbers, rather than delude the House of Commons by telling them there are 300,000 men ready to take the field, when we know that some of them are not efficient.