37. Mr. CHANCELLORasked why students in Cadet Corps are to be denied the privilege accorded to students in Officers' Training Corps of continuing their studies until they are eighteen and a half; whether he is aware that this differential treatment in favour of rich people is resented as tending to make commissions a monopoly of the wealthy; and whether he will take steps either to put both classes on the same level or to grant the preference to the members of the Cadet Corps?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONCommissions are in no way a monopoly of the wealthy, as by far the greater proportion of cadets accepted for Officer Cadet Units are serving soldiers who are recommended by their commanding officers. The privilege of remaining in their Cadet Unit until the age of eighteen and a half is only given to those who are recommended and accepted on attaining the age of eighteen for direct admission to an Officer Cadet Unit, and is given solely on the grounds of military requirements. It is not done with the object of granting special facilities for the continuance of ordinary education after the age of eighteen.
I would remind my hon. Friend that Officers' Training Corps are under the direct supervision of the War Office, and their training is supervised by the General Staff. This does not apply to Cadet Corps, where no standard of efficiency can be 24 ensured. There are special battalions for boys under eighteen years and eight months, and boys who have been in school cadet corps should quickly qualify for an Officer Cadet Unit, if they have the necessary gift of leadership.