§ 102. Mr. BENNETT-GOLDNEYasked whether, in calculating the strength of the Territorial Army for Home defence, the numbers of those officers, non-commissioned officers, and men who on mobilisation are liable for service abroad should be deducted?
§ Colonel SEELYThe reply is in the negative.
§ 103. Mr. BENNETT-GOLDNEYasked whether the numbers of officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the Territorial Army under an engagement to serve abroad with the Regular Army on mobilisation show an increase since the publication of the General Annual Report on the British Army, 1913; and, if so, will he say what the increase amounts to?
§ Colonel SEELYThe strength of the Imperial service section on the 1st January, the latest date for which figures 567 are at present available, is as follows:—Officers, 1,152; non-commissioned officers and men, 18,903. The strength on 1st October last was: 1,166 officers and 19,512 non-commissioned officers and men.
§ 104. Mr. BENNETT-GOLDNEYasked whether the number of officers, non-commissioned officers and men in the Territorial Army who failed to pass the standard test, which had risen from 34,505 in the musketry year 1912 to 58,446 in the year 1913, is still on the increase?
§ Colonel SEELYThere are no statistics available since the figures for 1912 were published to enable me to answer the question.
§ 105. Mr. BENNETT-GOLDNEYasked if, as in the Territorial Army, the increased number of those who were absent from camp, with or without leave, was in 1912, 8,720 more than in 1910, any similar increase is anticipated this year; and whether, as in 1912 the number of non-commissioned officers and men in the Territorial Army under nineteen years of age was 40,747, an increase during twelve months of 8,150, anything is being done to check a still further increase of the kind in 1913?
§ Colonel SEELYAs regards the first part of the question, as the increase between 1911 and 1912 amounted to 1,174 there is no reason to anticipate any further large increase in these numbers. As regards the second part of the question, as the number of recruits increased from 39,086 in 1911 to 57,946 in 1912, the total numbers of men in the force under nineteen years of age increased proportionately, and future numbers will depend on the state of recruiting.
§ 106. Mr. BENNETT-GOLDNEYasked whether, in the Territorial Army, as the numbers of those under nineteen years of age as well as of those who fail to pass the standard test in musketry and of those who are absent from camp increases, while the strength of the Territorial Army itself decreases, the general efficiency and use fulness of the force as a whole is thereby increased or diminished?
§ Colonel SEELYI am afraid that it is impossible to discuss the general question of the efficiency of the Territorial Force within the limits of a reply to a question.