§ MR. MITCHELL-THOMSON (Lanarkshire, N. W.)To ask the Secretary of State for War, whether on medical grounds, recruits enlisting at Home are not sent to India until they attain the age of twenty years; whether boys enlisting from the Royal Hibernian School or the Duke of York's Royal Military School, Chelsea, are liable at the age of fourteen or fifteen, if they happen to enlist in a regiment which is in India, to be sent there, after three months' training at Home; and whether, if so, steps can be taken at least to warn the boys or their guardians of the consequences of enlisting in a regiment which is in India.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) The twenty years' rule for India originated in a pledge given by Mr. Cardwell, and this limit of age was fixed mainly on medical grounds. Boys are not sent to any stations abroad if under fifteen years of age, and evidence shows that there is no objection to boys being sent at this age under the conditions of service applicable to boys. The consent of parents or guardians is always obtained prior to the enlistment of boys.