§ 16. Mr. RILEYasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is aware that 12 British Army ex-majors and one British Army colonel are now in the service of the Albanian Government organising and training the Albanian gendarmerie, and can he state if these British officers have been engaged through or with the consent of any department of the British Government?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINLieut. Colonel W. F. Stirling was invited by the Albanian Government in February, 1923, to become Adviser to the Albanian Ministry of Interior. Colonel Stirling, who was no longer in His Majesty's service, accepted the invitation, which had been made without the preknowledge of His Majesty's Government. Last January Colonel Stirling, acting as the agent of the Albanian Government, was instructed to organise a gendarmerie under a small number of British ex-officers. His Majesty's Government are in no way responsible for the scheme. The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative.
§ Mr. RILEYMay I ask whether the right hon. Gentleman approves of the practice of British officers giving their services to other countries?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThese are not; British officers over whom the British Government have any control. They are ex-officers, over whom we have no more control than over any other citizen in this country.