§ MR. CLAVELL SALTERTo ask the Secretary of State for War how many battery sergeant-majors and battery quarter-master-sergeants will be affected by the Army Order, issued on the 11th March, which provides that continuance in the service, beyond twenty-one years, of non-commissioned officers on the Home establishment is to cease for the present; and whether he will consider the advisability of allowing exceptions where commanding officers apply to retain such non-commissioned officers in the interests of the service.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) As regards the first part of the Question no figures are available in the War Office, and it would take some time to obtain the information. As regards the last part of the Question the Army Council is prepared to consider any exceptional cases, either in the interests of the service or of the non-commissioned officer.