§ 25. Lieut.-Colonel Liptonasked the Secretary of State for War why he has decided to send officer cadets to Sandhurst without preliminary service in the ranks.
§ The Secretary of State for War (Mr. Antony Head)Boys who have qualified and been selected to go to Sandhurst will in future spend their first 13 weeks in the ranks on basic training instead of 10 weeks as has been the practice. They will, however, do this service at Sandhurst, thereby avoiding considerable waste of time and repetition.
§ Lieut.-Colonel LiptonIs the Minister aware that this is a retrograde step? Is it not better that these officer cadets should get to know what life in the ranks really involves by serving in the ranks with the ordinary chaps over whom they will have to exercise command later?
§ Mr. HeadFrankly, in the case of Sandhurst that was not so. These boys who passed their examination and who were selected to go to Sandhurst were segregated when they went to their units and were given diversified training. They 1720 had to have a further refresher when they got to Sandhurst. A lot of time was wasted between their leaving school and going to Sandhurst, and because of this I believe that what was done was inefficient and did not add much to their training.