HC Deb 04 March 1902 vol 104 cc395-6

I am afraid that I am making too large a claim upon the time of the House—[Cries of "No, no"]—but I will sketch as rapidly as I can what we propose to do with three other measures of reform this year. In the first place, there is the Militia. We have been encouraged to assist the Militia by the admirable service they have done in South Africa. In the present year we have made the experiment of using Militiamen as field Artillerymen. It is impossible, we find, to ask any large body of Volunteers to take the duty of field Artillery. They have not the time to give to it, and they are not able, except in emergencies, to spare long enough time to do it, but we have made the experiment with one brigade of Militia with a considerable permanent staff of Regulars, and the Commander-in-Chief is highly pleased with the result that has been achieved. That encourages us to consider whether we can extend the operation. We are going to do what we can to encourage Militia officers. In the first place, we shall give a certain number every year an opportunity of serving with line regiments in order that they may have the benefit of the training, and also to enable the line regiments to have additional officers at these periods of the year. We intend to continue the system of entering the Army through the Militia. We recommend for this year the establishment of a Militia Reserve of 50,000 men, voted by the House last year, who have already served in the Militia or completed their reserve service in the line, and whom it was not considered desirable to raise till we had completed the garrison regiments. There are some smaller advantages that we propose for the Militia—an increase especially in the Militia Artillery and increased pay and better instruction for the Militia Engineers.