THE EARL OF GALLOWAYrose to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, 1. Whether those Militia regiments, or any of them, which have been warned they may be required to remain out for fifty-six days' training, instead of twenty-seven days will be so required; and, if so, to name the regiments to which this will apply; 2. Whether the commanding officers of any Militia regiments have volunteered in the name of their regiments their services for garrisoning foreign stations; 3. Whether this is permissible by the regulations of Her Majesty's Service; 4. If not so permissible, and it should be deemed desirable that such volunteering should take place, whether a circular will be sent to that effect to all Militia regiments at present undergoing their course of training? With regard to the first Question, it would be a great convenience to both officers and men to know whether they would be required to remain out for 56 days. With regard to the other three Questions, he had received communications from various commanding officers 1679 of Militia battalions in England and Scotland with reference to the course to be pursued as to volunteering. He had seen in the newspapers that several Militia regiments had volunteered for foreign service. He had considered the subject in March, 1878, when it seemed probable that the services of some of the Militia regiments might be required; and he then came to the conclusion that before a commanding officer of a Militia regiment volunteered its services it was His duty to receive the sanction of every officer, non-commissioned officer, and private in the regiment. Every noncommissioned officer in every Militia battalion in Her Majesty's Service would, of course, be ready at any moment to volunteer, and he had very little doubt but that the men would be equally ready to do so; but he should himself feel great compunction in addressing his own regiment and asking them to volunteer, unless he had previously received the sanction of his officers. It would, in His opinion, be of great advantage to the Service and to the country if his noble Friend would state what were the views of the Secretary of State for War upon the subject.
THE EARL OF SANDWICHsaid, he wished to call the attention of the noble Earl to the disadvantage of sending Militia regiments from their head-quarters to drill with small depot battalions, instead of with large bodies of troops. He complained also that, although military garrisons were maintained for the purpose of obtaining military recruits for the Militia, as a matter of fact, no recruits joined at these places. He held that it was not necessary to maintain such a large staff at these depots, seeing that they were comparatively useless.
THE EARL OF MORLEYsaid, he was not surprised at the Questions put by his noble and gallant Friend, and he would do his best to answer them. With regard to the first Question, the Militia regiments which were now out for their annual training had been warned that they might be required to remain out for 56 instead of the usual period of 28 days. In each case the commanding officers had been consulted, and asked whether the prolongation of training would seriously interfere with harvest operations in their districts. In all cases except one—Berkshire —the reply received bad been favourable to an exten- 1680 sion of the training; and, consequently, 28 Militia regiments would remain out this year for 56 days. As to the other Questions, no doubt a considerable number of commanding officers of Militia regiments had shown their zeal to serve nor Majesty by offering their regiments for garrisoning foreign stations. The Militia were not embodied, and there was no present intention of embodying them; and therefore, perhaps, the officers were not strictly regular in offering the services of their regiments. If the Militia were embodied, the Secretary of State would select those required for foreign service. Those selected would not necessarily be taken from the list of regiments which had already volunteered for foreign service. However, the numerous offers that had been made showed the zeal and readiness on the part of the Militia officers and men to serve when required. With regard to the observations made by the noble Earl who last addressed the House, he failed to see what connection they had with the Questions that had been put to him; but he believed they had reference to a speech he made some time ago having no connection with the present subject.
LORD ELLENBOROUGHsaid, he must protest against the way in which every time a war broke out it was taken as a matter of course that the Militia was to be sent out of the country, contrary to the purpose for which they were originally raised, which was for the protection of this country; and he protested against ignoring the Constitutional question every time it was found convenient to do so merely for the exigencies of the Government, and to hide the fact that the Army was not equal to the services required of it.
THE EARL OF MORLEYsaid, he did not think the sending of them out of the country for the defence of our garrisons abroad would be in contradiction of the purposes for which the Militia was raised.