§ House in Committee (according to Order.)
§ Clause 1 agreed to.
§ Clause 2 (Renewal of Enlistment.)
§ VISCOUNT HARDINGEdrew attention to the recommendation made by the Royal 1478 Commission on Recruiting, that there should be a discretionary power given to the Secretary of State to authorize arrangements for the re-enlistment of time-expired men serving abroad, and for a graduated scale of bounty to meet their cases. He complained that there was no clause in the Bill to carry out this recommendation, the great object of which was to prevent the waste of expense in bringing home men who might be willing to re-enlist. There might perhaps be valid reasons for not introducing such a clause, but if so, he was not aware of them.
THE EARL OF LONGFORDsaid, that the recommendation of the Commission in this matter had been fully considered in the preparation of the Bill, and the reason why it was not adopted was the very great inconvenience of having a great number of soldiers enlisted in the same regiment and serving for different periods and on different terms. The graduated scale of bounty would cause considerable trouble. Though the precise recommendation of the Commissioners was not carried out, Clause 2 was framed to give greater facilities for enlistment.
§ Amendments made; The Report thereof to be received To-morrow.