§ LORD ALWYNE COMPTON (Bedfordshire, Biggleswade)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether 36 he is aware that a number of men belonging to the Army Reserve, who were called out in 1899, are now, and have been for some time, on working furlough from the Brigade of Guards and other units, and that these men have been all these months while on working furlough receiving the same pay as those Reservists still detained with the colours; whether he will state what numbers are now on working furlough either from the Brigade of Guards or from other units; and will he explain why, if their services were no longer required with their regiments, this cost to the country was nut saved.
LORD STANLEYThe system of "working furloughs" was instituted during 1900 on the representations of employers of labour that the labour market was depleted by the war and was applied only to those men who would have been working but for the war. Statistics could be obtained of the number of men on such furlough, but they could only be collected by some time and labour. Many of them have been recalled recently, and those fit for South Africa will be despatched there.