§ MR. REES (Montgomery Boroughs)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether be is aware that many quartermasters in the Volunteer Force are men who have had distinguished service in the Regular Army, and have left the Army in order to take up the appointment of quartermaster, expecting to continue in the appointment till incapacitated by old age; whether the salaries of these officers will cease as from the 1st of April next; whether in this case they will receive any compensation in lieu of the notice that might reasonably have been given to them; and whether they will be expected to perform without pay the same duties in the Territorial Army as they have hitherto performed in the Volunteer Force.
§ MR. HALDANEMay I venture to point out to my hon. friend that any arrangement with Volunteer quartermasters has been between them and the corps, and that the Army Council has had nothing to do with it. I hope that the Associations will be able to retain their services, even though many of the duties hitherto performed by the quartermasters will now he performed by the Associations. If any payment for duty outside the period of annual training in camp is necessary, it will be met from the Associations' grants, but this is part of the internal economy of Associations with which we have no intention of interfering.