§ COLONEL LOCKWOODI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he will state how many men there are at the present time who are under three months' notice to be discharged from the Army Ordnance Department, and if any further discharges are contemplated; and whether, considering the present depressed condition 1683 of trade in Woolwich and elsewhere, he will reconsider the age limit of sixty.
§ MR. HALDANEThere are sixteen men in the Army Ordnance Department at Woolwich Arsenal at present under three months' notice of discharge, and about twenty-five further discharges are contemplated before June next. Many of these men are entitled to pensions, and of the sixteen all but one are either pensionable or eligible for gratuities. Civilian subordinates may be called upon to retire at the age of sixty, but if fully able to discharge their duties properly may, in very exceptional circumstances, be retained from year to year to sixty-five. These discharges will make way for a number of younger men waiting to be taken on.