§ MR. LEHMANN (Leicestershire, Market Harborough, on behalf of the hon. Member for the Harwich Division of Essex)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if he will consider the advisability of putting a stop to the practice of keeping vacancies open in the list of captains of a battalion where the senior subalterns are not qualified for promotion, having regard to the fact that such a system is not only unfair to the junior subalterns qualified for promotion, but is calculated to militate against the general efficiency of the service. I beg also to ask the Secretary of State for War if he will state why only one of the two vacancies occurring in the list of captains in the Alexandra, Princess of Wales' Own (Yorkshire) Regiment, has thus far been filled, and that by an officer passing over the heads of two senior subalterns, who presumably were not qualified for promotion; whether there is any intention of keeping this vacancy open, in contravention of the regulations, in order to enable the subalterns, who were non-efficient at that date, to qualify.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. HALDANE,) HaddingtonshireA vacancy is filled at once by the promotion of officers qualified at the date of such vacancy, except—(1) when a supernumerary officer is available for absorption within three months of the vacancy, and it is kept open for such three months, 814 in accordance with the terms of the Royal Warrant. (2) When a vacancy occurs with date subsequent to the date of an examination for which the senior officer has presented himself, and it is kept open until the result of the examination is known. In the case alluded to in Question No. 23, the latter vacancy is being kept open for an officer due for absorption on the 16th July.