§ 54. Mr. Bellengerasked the Prime Minister whether any consideration has been given to the conditions of service of our post-war military forces, and whether he will set up a committee to investigate existing methods of recruiting and administration and if necessary, to make recommendations for improvements.
§ The Prime MinisterThese matters are being considered by the Service Departments, individually and in consultation, in the same way as other problems of reconstruction are being considered by the civil departments. These subjects are not new—there is a vast mass of knowledge, experience and example which has been accumulated, and I am sure there is no need to set up a special committee.
§ Mr. BellengerDoes not my right hon. Friend recollect the recruiting for the Army before the war, when it did not produce anything like the number of soldiers desired; and will he personally consult his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for War to ascertain how far any recruiting is being done now towards getting something like a professional postwar Army?
§ The Prime MinisterWe shall have to decide the large question of whether there is to be compulsory national service after the war. We do not want a Committee to decide that. That has to be the decision of a Government which takes its fortunes and its fate in its hands.