§ 26. Mr. GILBERTasked the Under-Secretary of State for War what Regulations have been made in Army training camps as regards the men over forty-four years of age and graded 1 and 2 and called up under the last Act before the new Regulation of the National Service Department was issued that all such men should be graded B1 and B2, in brackets; whether he is aware that such men are being trained with younger Grade 1 men and think they may be sent to the front on emergency; and will he issue instructions forthwith that all such men over forty-four years of age who are now training as Grade 1 men shall have exactly the same treatment and training as all men who are now called up and are graded B1 and B2, in brackets?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONMen called up who are over forty years of age, and are allotted to Infantry, are posted to battalions specially organised for their reception and kept together as far as practicable. They are trained on a special modified syllabus of training suitable for older men, and, as far as possible, trained by older non-commissioned officers. Instructions have already been issued that men enlisted subsequent to 18th April, 1918, who on the date of their enlistment 216 had attained the age of forty years and were graded Grade I, will now be categorised as B1.