§ 12. Mr. F. GRAYasked the Under-Secretary of State for War the precise nature of the work at the War Office which now necessitates the employment of an increased number of officers from 174 to 325, and which he anticipates will justify the employment of 297 as against 174 after the 1st April, 1923?
Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESSThe additional work may be broadly divided as follows:
First: Outstanding questions and claims arising directly out of the events and circumstances of the War.
Second: Questions connected with the post-War settlement, for instance, the garrisoning of the new territories and the occupation of the Rhine provinces.
Third: The reduction of the Army, its reorganisation in the light of war experience, and the consequential revision of all training and other manuals, books of regulations, etc.
Fourth: Permanent new work—for instance, the extended employment of mechanical transport and the introduction of new types of munitions and war matériel, and new services, such as signals, education, tanks, and cost accounting.
Fifth: The general increase in the volume of correspondence to be handled.
§ 13. Mr. GRAYfurther asked the Under-Secretary of State for War the number of separate premises now occupied in England by persons under the control of his office, and the number of premises so occupied in July, 1914?
Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESSExcluding War Department property, the number of separate premises occupied by the War Department in England at present is about 330, and the corresponding number in 1914 was 525. I am not in a position to give similar figures for the Territorial Army, but there has been a decrease.