§ 23. Mr. Palingasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the staffs of the administration services in the Colonies are being kept up to their full numbers; and what steps are being taken to secure the necessary number of new entrants to the services?
§ The Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. Malcolm MacDonald)Generally speaking, the answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative, though a certain number of Colonial officers have 1179 been recalled for duty with reserve forces of which they are members, and others have been released for service with local military forces now mobilised. As regards the second part of the question, recruitment for the Colonial Administrative Service and several oťher important branches during the first year of the war has already been ensured n a scale only very slightly below the average of the last three peace years, and proposals for recruitment after September next are now being actively considered.
§ Mr. PalingWill ťhese people be among the new age groups that are being called up?
§ Mr. MacDonaldMany of them are, and many of them are being accepted because of the exceedingly good work which they are going to do.