§ SIR HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if his attention has been called to the declaration of the President of the Imperial Defence Committee that, although in 1899 there were numbers of Volunteers in the country, they were not organised from the point of view of a field army, and there was not any machinery for organising them, no headquarters staff, and no sufficient arrangement for instantaneously using them as a field army; and if he can inform the House what steps, if any, the War 246 Office has taken during the last six years to remedy such a condition of affairs.
§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERIn reply to the Question put yesterday † by my hon. and gallant friend on the subject of the organisation of the Volunteers as a field force I gave a full Answer explaining the measures which were now being taken. This Answer covers a reply to the present Question.
§ MR. MCCRAE (Edinburgh, E.)Is it not a fact that for the last two years charges have been borne on the Estimates for Army Service Corps for the Volunteers which have never been put into operation?
§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERThere has been an important departure in the direction of the organisation of Army Corps for the Volunteer force, and I hope the experiment will be extended.