§ 89. Mr. WATTasked whether under the Derby scheme recruits have the right to choose their regiments provided there are vacancies therein; if so, is he aware that the officials of the Whitehall recruiting office are refusing to allow Scotsmen to choose Scottish regiments even where vacancies are known to exist, and in particular that they have recently refused to allow men to proceed to Scotland to join the Lowland Brigade Royal Field Artillery, even though they had arranged with 1182 that Brigade so to act; and whether, in order not to injure recruiting, he will see this matter remedied?
§ Mr. TENNANTSubject to the existence of vacancies which, of course, depend on the exigencies of the Service, men are sent to the regiments they desire to join. If a Scotsman, who finds himself in Whitehall, wishes to return to his native country to join a Scottish regiment in which there is a vacancy, I can assure my hon. Friend that he would be posted to it. I have made inquiries regarding the incident mentioned, but the officials at the Whitehall recruiting office, who are most sympathetic to the claims of national patriotism, have no recollection of the case.