§ MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Regis)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether there has been a reduction of 1,145 in the total force of Royal Marines in the past year; whether further reductions are to follow; and whether these changes, coupled with the fact that specialist marine officers, wearing the uniform of the corps, are no longer to be entered, foreshadow the abolition of the Royal Marine Light Infantry and the Royal Marine Artillery.
§ † See (4) Debates, cliii., 633.
61§ (Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The answer to the first part of the Question is in the affirmative, the reduction being due to the decreased requirements of the Fleet, consequent upon the recent reorganisation. No further reduction will be made during 1906–7. The answer to the last part of the Question is in the negative.