§ MR. YOXALL (Nottingham, W.)To ask the Secretary of State for War how many Army schoolmasters have, during the last twenty-five years, been gazetted to a commission as inspector or sub-inspector of Army schools before attaining the age of forty years, and upon what date was the last appointment made under these conditions; have any instructions been given, with a view to extending the area from which selections are made from the corps of Army schoolmasters to fill the appointment of Inspector of Army Schools, in order that a proportion of such inspectors will be commissioned before attaining the age' of forty, and not continue to be debarred from the advantages held out by the recent Army Order regulating their promotion to the honorary rank of major.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Brodrick.) In reply to the first part of the Question no such promotion has been made under the age of forty. As regards the second part of the Question there is no intention of altering the present system of careful selection, which works well. The cases arising under the Army Order mentioned can only be very exceptional, and the promotion to the honorary rank of major was only intended for such exceptional cases.