§ MR. FETHERSTONHAUGHTo ask the Secretary of State for War whether, according to the Army regulations, a colour-sergeant receiving 3s. 6d. daily pay in a line regiment can be, without his own consent, posted to be colour-sergeant of a Militia staff, and thereby have to serve at a lower rate of pay than he would get in his own battalion; if so, are colour-sergeants posted to Militia battalions by way of punishment; and how much less pay per day would a colour-sergeant posted to the Militia receive under the present regulations than if he were allowed to remain in his own battalion.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) A line colour-sergeant is liable to com- 1410 pulsory transfer to the permanent staff of the Militia as a colour-sergeant, but this course is rarely resorted to. In the absence of a non-commissioned officer volunteering for this appointment the vacancy is filled by the promotion of a line sergeant or a sergeant of the permanent staff. Colour-sergeants are not posted to the permanent staff as a punishment. Their pay is 6d. a day less than a line colour-sergeant.