§ SIR HENRY KIMBER (Wandsworth)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether the Government will assume the debts and expenses properly incurred by the various battalions of Volunteers, and which their remaining funds on 31st March next are insufficient to discharge, and including the repayment of any moneys they may have had to borrow from their bankers; whether the same assumption will equally apply to those battalions which may be disbanded by the War Office; whether the Government will take over the drill halls and armouries connected with the Volunteer Force, and repay any moneys which may be due in respect to such buildings; and whether, in the event of the Government declining to assume any such debts, the commanding officer, or any other members of the corps, will be held to be responsible.
§ MR. HALDANEA special grant will be made from Army funds where necessary to commanding officers of Yeomanry and Volunteer corps, which are to be transferred to the Territorial Force or disbanded, sufficient to enable them to discharge all liabilities on the public funds of the corps which have been properly incurred and 'cannot be met from credit balances remaining on 31st March, 1908, except loans which have been raised for purposes contemplated in the Military Lands Acts, and are secured on corps property. The drill halls and armouries which are corps property, acquired under the Military Lands and other Acts, will, in the case of corps passing into the Territorial Force, be transferred to County Associations, 1346 together with any mortgage secured on them. The property of disbanded corps will, as provided under the Military Lands Acts, vest in the Secretary of State subject to repayment of money borrowed for its purchase, etc. Property vested in trustees for the benefit of corps will be dealt with as the circumstances of each case demand.
In reply to a further Question,
§ MR. HALDANEsaid it was exceedingly difficult to distinguish between money voluntarily subscribed locally for drill halls and the Government contributions, in cases where five-sixths of the money was public money, but in cases where the drill hall had been bought from voluntary funds it would remain private property. It would only be taken over by the County Association when it had been made absolutely the property of the corps.