Mr. PIKE PEASEasked the Undersecretary of State for War whether he will consider the advisability of raising the status of the Army Ordnance Department writers, and grant these clerks greater facilities to advance to higher posts in the department, having regard to the fact that most probably these men would be called upon to fill important positions and undertake additional responsibilities in a national emergency, as was exemplified in the late Boer War?
§ Colonel SEELYThe status of the Army Ordnance Department writers has lately been reconsidered. They are eligible for promotion to the posts of foreman and storeholder and at Woolwich Arsenal to the post of civil clerk. It is difficult to increase their opportunities of advancement without interfering with the training of the Army Ordnance Corps, on whom primarily the additional duties and responsibilities must fall in time of war.