§ MR. COURTHOPE (Sussex, Rye)To ask the Secretary of State for War if he will say by what system drafts are supplied to the Norfolk Regiment, the Royal Sussex Regiment, the Black Watch, the Essex Regiment, the Royal West Kent Regiment, and the Royal Munster Fusiliers, all of which have both battalions abroad; and what are the military or economic disadvantages of this system as compared with the linked-battalion system.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) The system of supplying drafts to regiments which have both battalions abroad is practically the same as for all other regiments of infantry. One battalion, which is in a temperate climate, receives a draft of recruits from the depot, and in its turn sends a draft of mature and fully-trained soldiers to the other battalion, which is usually in India or at some station in the tropics. If the regimental depot supplied drafts direct to both battalions, its establishment would have to be largely augmented, and considerable extra expenditure would be involved.