COLONEL HERBERTTo ask the Secretary of State for War whether the evidence given before a Committee, presided over by Major-General Sir Coleridge Grove, showed a consensus of military opinion opposed to the regulations, now embodied in the Royal Warrant for pay and promotion, as militating against the adoption of the Army as a profession by men of ability and ambition; whether that Committee recommended that promotion to the rank of major-general be by selection to fill vacancies on a fixed establishment of general officers, and not, as at present, by selection to fill an appointment carrying with it promotion to the rank of major-general; whether he will lay 81 upon the Table the evidence taken before that Committee and its Report; and whether he proposes to introduce changes in the existing Royal Warrant in accordance with the recommendations contained in that Report.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) The evidence given before this Committee showed a preponderance of military opinion in favour of abandoning the present system of promotion to the ranks of colonel and major-general. As regards the second part of the Question, the Answer is in the affirmative. I do not propose to lay the Report and evidence of this Committee upon the Table. It is my intention to adopt the recommendations of the Committee, and it is expected that a Royal Warrant to give effect to them will be published very soon.