THE EARL OF DUOIE,in rising to move—
That an humble Address he presented to Her Majesty for a Return of the number of First Class Army Reserve men in each regimental district who have been registered as desirous of civil employment in accordance with General Order 79, of June 1884,said, that some organization was required for bringing these men into contact with employers of labour. It would be a proper supplement to the county regimental system. By means of such a Return as that for which he now moved they would be able to see whether the proportion of men who had placed themselves on the register bore any reasonable proportion to the number of Reserve men belonging to that depot or centre. If the proportion was not a reasonable one, then they might assume that there was some definite reason for the failure of the scheme. In conclusion, he begged to move for the Return of which he had given Notice.
§
Address for—
Return of the number of First Class Army Reserve men in each regimental district who have been registered as desirous of civil employment in accordance with General Order 79, of June 1884."—(The Earl of Dude.)
THE EARL OF MORLEYsaid, that he had not the slightest objection to giving the Return asked for, and he was glad to take this opportunity of calling attention to facts of considerable importance to the Army and to the country at large. He could not at the present time give the number of men whose names had been entered on the register for civil employment. He was afraid, however, that the number at the end of last year had not been large; in fact, it had been considerably smaller than he had hoped would be the case in comparison with the number of men who had left the Colours. This scheme, however, was 1671 entirely a new departure, the order laid down for establishing this register of employment having only been issued last June, and, as in all other professions, it was some time before a measure of this kind became known. He had no reason to suppose that there was any suspicion as to the register; but if it were so, experience would remove this. He proposed to give this Return as accurately as he could up to the end of the present month. He would point out how important it was with regard to an organization such as this that the officers commanding the depot centres should be brought into contact with the employers of labour, great or small. It was impossible to do so without civil co-operation. It would be of enormous use to the Army, and would remove prejudices still lingering in the minds of some with regard to joining the Colours, if there were a tolerable certainty that a man with good character would, on return from the Colours, be nearly sure of obtaining civil employment.
§ VISCOUNT BURYsaid, he quite agreed with the noble Earl as to the advantage of some such organization. It was, however, a curious thing that the men themselves had failed to take advantage of the existing arrangement. One of the officers connected with headquarters had told him that in the central register there were extremely few names put down last year on the register as wanting employment. There seemed to be considerable exaggeration as to the number of Reserve men without employment, and he believed that it was the fact that a good Reserve man could always command employment. Of course, all Reserve men were not of equally good character, and the mere fact of being a Reserve man would not obtain a man employment. He thought that it was inadvisable that any exaggeration should be allowed to go abroad as to a number of Reserve men wandering about the country without employment.
THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAMobserved, that in his county there had been only two or three Reserve men last year wishing for employment who had not obtained it.
§ THE EARL OF DUCIEsaid, he wished to express his satisfaction with regard to the tone of the discussion which had taken place.
§ Motion agreed to.