THE EARL OF DUNRAVENMy Lords, I rise to ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been drawn to letters which have appeared in the public press from Colonel Edis; and whether the Inspector-General of Auxiliary Forces has control over the various irregular corps now being formed. I have no intention of going into the question as to whether the letter ought or ought not to have been published, nor do I propose to enter into the subject-matter of the letter in any detail; but I should like some information on one point. The main complaint in the letter of Colonel Edis is that the Volunteer Corps are not allowed to recruit beyond their normal strength. I understand from an answer to a question given by the Under Secretary of State in another place that the Volunteer Battalions may be recruited beyond their normal paper strength to the amount of drafts which have been sent out to the seat of the war; but to limit any increase in these battalions beyond the normal strength to that amount does not appear to me to be a common-sense proceeding. The Volunteer force is, of course, a defensive force, and its great value is probably brought home to us more forcibly now, when the country is denuded to so very great an extent of the ordinary garrison than it has been before. I contend that if the Volunteer force is to be kept up to its true value as a defensive force it must be kept up to its full strength. To do that it is not sufficient to merely allow recruiting to the extent only of the drafts sent out to the seat of war. Commanding officers should be allowed to recruit to a considerable margin above their normal strength, not only to the amount of drafts which have gone out to the war, but also to make allowance for further drafts which may have to go out, and for the ordinary waste and wear of war. By that means only can these Volunteer Battalions be kept up to their proper strength. In an emergency like the present, when it is necessary that the raw material 555 of defence in the country should be turned into a more or less manufactured article as speedily as possible, I should have thought that there could have been no serious objection to allowing battalions numerically small to be recruited up to, at any rate, the normal strength of a line battalion, and I would venture to express the hope that the Army Order dealing with this matter may be interpreted a little more liberally. I have no doubt that my noble friend the Secretary of State for War knows as well as I do, and perhaps a great deal better than I do, that a certain amount of dissatisfaction exists in the country owing to the obstructions which are being placed in the way of the Volunteer movement. I am not going to inquire how far that is justified, but my own impression is that there is a considerable foundation in fact for the existence of this feeling. It seems to me perfectly inevitable that in a sudden and hurried movement of this kind difficulties and friction must arise. The wonder is that the friction is not greater. I have seen it stated in the papers, with what truth I do not know, that units have been disbanded because they were kept waiting so long that they did not know whether they would be utilised or not. Complaints have also been made as to the rejection, at the final medical examination, of men who have previously been passed by properly qualified medical officers. I would venture to remind my noble friend that in the matter of medical examination, for instance, there is a very great difference between the recruiting for the Regular Army and recruiting for the Special Corps. In the former case the medical men have to consider whether the recruit is likely, in the course of years, to become a charge on the country. I scarcely think that the Army Order dealing with the matter is sufficiently elastic. In my opinion, commanding officers and medical men ought to be given considerable latitude in the question of age, and some latitude in the question of dimensions. Many men considerably over the Government limit of age for the Regular Army, and perhaps not quite up to the proper standard of chest measurement and height, may be admirably adapted for the services required of them at present. I am not sure whether, in an emergency of this kind, it would not be advisable in this special corps to relax the sight test, and 556 to accept men who are short sighted, but whose sight is otherwise sound. There are one or two other matters which I should like to mention merely as examples of the difficulties that arise. Take the matter, for instance, of equipment. It is essential that all these special corps should be armed with Government rifles, but, with regard to the carrying of ammunition, if any particular corps favoured some other method, such as the Boer waiscoat, in preference to the Government bandolier, why should they not be allowed to adopt it? Many of these men are crack shots possessing their own rifles, and surely in such cases they ought to be encouraged to bring them, because they naturally suit the individual idiosyncrasies of the owners. There ought to be some authority dealing with these questions who could say "yes" or "no," and could thereby settle points of doubt. If I am asked by a man whether any allowance will be given if he brings his own rifle I cannot give him an answer. If I write to the War Office I may, in the course of time, get an answer on several cubic feet of foolscap paper, but considerable time will be wasted. I would venture to suggest that some authority should be created, if it does not at present exist, and should be instructed to push forward as much as possible the volunteering desire of the people, and to give considerable latitude in small matters of detail. This authority should be able to give authoritative answers to questions of the kind to which I have referred. I am sure my noble friend is most anxious to clear away anything which can possibly constitute a difficulty in the way of the volunteering spirit of the nation, which is so much to be commended, and I would appeal to him to take into consideration the small points I have mentioned, and devise some means whereby they can be obviated in the future.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, I think I ought first to state to my noble friend with regard to the corps which he describes as "the various irregular corps now being raised," and by which I think he means the Imperial Yeomanry and the Volunteer companies lately attached to the line battalions, that the members of those corps are treated as belonging to the regular Army. They are formally enlisted in the regular Army, and from the moment that they join the companies of Volunteers or the Mounted Infantry they pass under the administra- 557 tive control of the same members of the Headquarters Staff as the regular Army. They are, therefore, no longer under the Inspector-General of Auxiliary Forces, as they would be as long as they remained Volunteers pure and simple. As to the letter published in the papers with Colonel Edis's signature, Colonel Edis wrote to the War Office, his communication being received on December 25th, asking permission to raise two new companies for his Volunteer battalion. The answer which Colonel Edis received was this—that his battalion having provided a company which had been transferred to the line battalion, he was at liberty to go on recruiting to an extent sufficient to fill the vacancies thus occasioned. That was equivalent to telling him that the company attached to the line battalion was to be treated as supernumerary, and that his own battalion was not to suffer by the transference. But as to the further question, whether Colonel Edis should be at liberty to go on recruiting so as not only to add to his battalion sufficient men to make up the void, but also to raise further companies, permission to do that was not given at that time. It is quite clear that it would have been impossible to give a permission of that kind to one Volunteer colonel and not to others. The question was one of great importance, affecting the whole of the Volunteer force, and it was a question which, I think, we might not unfairly desire to reserve for examination. Colonel Edis did not wait for the answer to his letter; but, assuming that the answer would be in the affirmative, he proceeded to raise recruits for his battalion; and that, to put it mildly, was a little previous. If other Volunteer colonels had proceeded in the same manner, comment might have been made upon the ideas of the Volunteer force in regard to what is, after all, a matter of military discipline. I think it is to be regretted that Colonel Edis took that course; and, having taken it and put himself in the wrong, that he should have written a letter imputing to the military authorities feelings with regard to the Volunteer force which they are very far indeed from entertaining. But, my Lords, I certainly do not dispute what my noble friend has said as to the desirability of taking advantage at a moment like the present of as many as possible of those spontaneous offers of military 558 service which are reaching us from so many parts of the country. We have been considering that matter, and it is one which I will deal with when I have the honour of addressing the House as to the military steps which we intend to take. But I have not the slightest objection to telling the noble Earl now that our idea is this. All Volunteer battalions should be allowed to recruit up to a certain maximum strength, even if that maximum considerably exceeds the present authorised establishment. Of course, if you go beyond about 1,000 men, you get a unit which becomes too large and is inconvenient for military purposes. But where the influx of recruits is so great as to point to the conclusion that recruits might be obtained sufficient not only to raise the battalion to its maximum strength but also higher still, then we shall have no objection whatever to substituting for one full-size battalion two other battalions which might perhaps be of a somewhat inferior numerical strength. That is a perfectly fair way of meeting the desire which has been expressed. My noble friend spoke of the action of the War Office in rejecting men who had accepted a liability for service with these new Volunteer companies, on the ground that they did not come up to the physical standard insisted upon for the Regulars.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEI fancy I am familiar with the case to which my noble friend refers. It was a case in which the colonel of a battalion raised a company and had the men examined on his own responsibility. He had not complied with the terms of the Army Order, which says that—
When a Volunteer commanding officer has received application for not less than a section of Volunteers, he will so inform the officer commanding the regimental depôt to which his battalion is affiliated, who will then, if they are to form part of the service company, have them medically inspected, and, if fit for service, attested.But in this case the medical examination was not conducted in the proper way, but, I believe, by some private practitioner, and without communicating with the officer of the depôt. The company was subsequently examined in the proper way, 559 and it was found that forty-seven of the men did not come up to the proper standards of height or chest measurement. My noble friend's observation upon that is that our regulations should be more elastic. But I ask the House to consider whether, in the case of these Volunteer companies—who are to serve with Regular battalions in South Africa, under conditions just as trying as those endured by the soldiers who have been fighting for us during the past weeks—it would be fair to the men themselves or to the officers who command them to send out from this country Volunteers who, in point of physical stamina, are distinctly inferior to the regular soldiers by whose side they are to stand in the field. We considered this matter, and we thought that it would be most inexpedient to relax the conditions on which we insist in the case of ordinary recruiting; and I hold strongly that, in cases of this kind, the exercise of a kind of dispensing power by the Secretary of State is most inexpedient. You should lay down what your best advisers tell you is a reasonable standard, and you should tell your medical advisers to ascertain whether that standard is reached, and not to accept men falling below it. But, my Lords, while we insisted on this measure of strictness with regard to these Volunteer companies, I am glad to tell my noble friend that in the case of the Imperial Yeomanry, who will be serving under somewhat less trying conditions, we did in our instructions dwell especially on the fact that these men would be required, not to serve for a term of seven or twelve years with the colours, like the ordinary soldiers, but for one year or for the duration of the war; and we said that they should be judged with reference to that condition. My noble friend is anxious that some authority should be appointed who will be able to answer questions on subjects of this kind. I believe that authority can be discovered without very much difficulty. It depends what the particular point is, but all these questions are allocated to the different members of the headquarters staff, and if there is any delay in dealing with them it is probably owing to the great pressure of work. I may mention in this connection, as evidence of our desire to meet the wishes of these newly raised corps in every possible way, that we have, in regard to the Imperial Yeomanry, been very much 560 guided by a committee of Yeomanry officers, who have been constantly sitting, and who have acted as a valuable intermediary between the War Office and the corps. This committee have been able to take off our hands a number of those very details which the noble Lord wishes to see dealt with by methods somewhat more elastic than those habitual in a public department. As to the question whether, if a Volunteer brought his own rifle he would be allowed to substitute it for the weapon with which otherwise the Government would supply him, the first consideration would be whether the rifle was the same as that issued to the remainder of the corps. Of course, if it necessitated the supply of different ammunition it would be out of the question.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEI have not heard the suggestion made before, but I am willing to take it into consideration.
LORD MONKSWELLThere was one point in the speech of the noble Marquess which I did not understand. The noble Marquess said that a different standard would be adopted for the Imperial Yeomanry as compared with the Volunteers serving with the Army. The noble Marquess put the difference upon the ground that the Yeomanry only served for a year or till the end of the war. Is it not the same with regard to the Volunteers?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEThe Volunteer company becomes a company of the line battalion, and serves with it. The Imperial Yeomanry serve under different conditions.
LORD MONKSWELLThey may not serve under the same conditions, but the noble Marquess put the difference on the ground that the term of service was different.
THE EARL OF DUNRAVENI understand from the Secretary of State for War that all these Volunteer forces and Imperial Yeomanry after acceptance become subject to the ordinary military authorities the same as Regular soldiers. It is 561 during the process of enrolling the men that these difficulties occur. I think that while a corps is being formed and before the men are finally accepted there ought to be some authority that one could appeal to during that period. It seems to me ridiculous to have to go to one of the heads of the War Office to ask whether a man can be allowed £4 for his rifle or not. With regard to the rejection, on the final medical examination, of the men to whom I have referred, the noble Marquess stated that the previous examination was conducted by a private practitioner. If my information is correct, they were examined in the first instance by the Volunteer medical officer.