§ Mr. NIELDasked whether the War Office have recently ordered that the issue of carbines and camp equipment to lads' brigades, which has obtained for some years past, shall now cease; whether the War Office have ordered that Army officers on the active list shall in future be for-hidden to inspect lads' brigades in uniform unless and until such brigades become cadet corps affiliated to the Territorial Associations; and, if so, whether such action is due to the failure of the Territorial Army to obtain sufficient recruits and to an intention of the Department or the Government to introduce compulsory service without a mandate from the electorate and without the necessity for an Act of Parliament?
§ Colonel SEELYThe reply to the first two parts of the question is in the affirmative; the reply to the last part of the question is in the negative.