§ * MR. MCCRAE (Edinburgh, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if he can state the amount of the saving in expenditure which will result on the reduction of the Volunteer camp training from fifteen days to eight days of those battalions serving in the Field Army brigades.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. HALDANE,) HaddingtonThe Answer to the Question of my hon. friend is that the saving in expenditure will be £58,000. But it is not a question of saving money. I agree that fifteen days camps are much more valuable than eight days camps, and I hope in future to be able to provide something of the sort for the Volunteer Force as a whole. My difficulty is that the differential treatment of the Field Army Brigades having ceased to be justified with the extinction of these brigades, and the Volunteer Force being all now upon the same footing as regard the title to these camps, I cannot justify differential treatment of individual battalions. Moreover, the change is only a temporary one for next year, my hope 815 being that Parliament will assent to a reorganisation which will put the whole of the Volunteer forces, without differentiation, on a much better footing.
§ * MR. MCCRAEWill the right hon. Gentleman before coming to a final decision for next year receive a deputation of commanding officers on the point?
§ MR. HALDANEwas understood to reply that that was unnecessary.