Major STANLEYasked whether the time has arrived when officers should be admitted to the staff college purely by competition instead of under the present system?
§ Colonel SEELYIt is considered that the present system has worked and is working well, and that there is no reason to alter it in the direction indicated.
Major STANLEYDoes the right hon. Gentleman think that the present 948 system, by which officers who pass low in the list are preferred to officers who pass high, is likely to secure Lord Haldane's object and obtain the most thoughtful, capable and intellectual officers for the general staff?
§ Colonel SEELYI seriously think the present system is better than if you did it by purely competitive examination, and many eminent soldiers, like Lord Kitchener and others, are strongly of the same opinion. Every man has to pass a very severe examination. Those who have rendered conspicuous service in the field can be nominated, and I think the system works better than the system suggested.