§ SIR CHARLES MCLAREN (Leicestershire, Bosworth)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether it is proposed to provide any equipment for the Balloon Company, Royal Engineers (Territorials), which has been raised under the Territorial Army scheme; and, if not, how the training of the company is to be carried out so as to fit them for their duties in the field, having regard to the difficulty of training a balloon company without apparatus of any kind.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) The Balloon Company will not receive technical stores. The training will be carried out on similar lines to that of other Territorial Force Engineer units. The ordinary drills and lectures will be carried out in London, lectures being substituted for drills at the discretion of the Territorial Division Commander. For mounted drills it is proposed that the wagons should be borrowed from the Telegraph Companies with which the Balloon Company is quartered. The annual and technical training in camp will be carried out at Aldershot or at some camp where the Regular Balloon Company is present to which the Territorial unit will be attached.