HC Deb 19 February 1903 vol 118 cc277-8
SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean)

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether any calculation has been made, and can be laid before Parliament, as to the rate at which the 1st Class Army Reserve is likely to regain the number at which it stood before the recent war.

MR. BRODRICK

So far as Sections A., B., and C. are concerned, it is expected that the numbers will reach the figure at which they stood in October 1899, at the latest in 1905. As regards Section D., the number depends on voluntary re-engagements, and, therefore, any calculation would be too problematical to be of any real value. The adoption of the three years system will cause a rapid increase of the Reserve after 1905.