§ Mr. ASHLEYasked whether in the future officers appointed to cadet corps and battalions will be gazetted to the Territorial Force, unattached list, and as such come under Territorial Force Regulations?
§ Mr. HALDANEThese officers will not be gazetted to the Territorial Force, and they will be governed by the Cadet Corps Regulations, and not by the Territorial Force Regulations. They will receive commissions as officers of the Cadet Force of their respective counties, which will be issued by the Lord Lieutenant.
§ Mr. ASHLEYWill the right hon. Gentleman state why these officers should be treated differently from the officers of public schools, who are Territorial officers?
§ Mr. HALDANEThe hon. Gentleman is under a misapprehension. It is the Officers' Training Corps he refers to, not the Cadet Corps—special corps connected with the Army as a whole.
§ Mr. ASHLEYDo not both the Public Schools' Training Corps and those cadet corps equally train boys of from fifteen to eighteen years of age?
§ Mr. HALDANENo; they are entirely different. The Officers' Training Corps of course trains boys for the purpose of becoming officers of the Regular Forces. These cadet corps are under wholly different conditions, and they train boys with a view to their coming out to recruit for the Territorial Force.
§ Mr. ASHLEYasked whether the Secretary for War can see his way to modify the provisional regulations issued with Special Army Order, dated 21st May, 1910, with reference to cadet corps and battalions, and permit them to remain under practically the same regulations as have existed since their recognition by the War Office, in view of the fact that these units have in the past provided large numbers of recruits who would not otherwise have enlisted, and that they have appeared in the Army List for some twenty years?
§ Mr. HALDANEThe regulations issued with this Army Order carry out the provisions of Section II. (2)(f) of the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act, and effect a necessary part of the large reorganisation instituted by that measure. At the same time, they are an endeavour to secure a principle, which I think the House will accept, that recruiting for these bodies shall in future in no way interfere with recruiting for the Territorial Force. Every effort will be made to effect the changes in the cadet corps and battalions as smoothly as possible. The hon. Member's suggestion to leave these organisations under their old arrangement is, I am afraid, quite impracticable.
§ Mr. ASHLEYCan the right hon. Gentleman state how these cadet corps could possibly interfere with recruiting for the Regular Forces, for the Reserve, and for the Territorial Force?
§ Mr. HALDANEThe cadet corps, as we are organising them now, are organised with a view to producing that amount of training in boys which would enable them to join the Territorial Force and dispense with recruit drill. The old cadet corps have grown up splendidly, but, from the military point of view, they were simply a waste of energy. I agree that they did admirable work from another point of view, but it was outside the purview of the War Office.
§ Mr. ASHLEYWill the right hon. Gentleman see that no extra expense is thrown on these cadet corps, which must he the case if these regulations are continued?
§ Mr. HALDANEA Money Grant has been made which is more than the value of anything which has been laid upon them.