§ EARL WINTERTONTo ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to cases which have arisen of officers in line battalions being superseded by officers transferred from disbanded battalions of other regiments, and which have led to a considerable amount of hardship; and whether he will consider if there is any method of mitigating the block in promotion thus caused.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) As I have already explained to the House in reference to this subject, cases of disbandment in any branch of the service must necessarily cause retardation of promotion, but this is spread throughout the branch concerned and it is expedient to consider the interests of the infantry officers as a body rather than those of any particular regiment.