HL Deb 26 July 1900 vol 86 cc1285-9
LORD BRAYE

My Lords, I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether, in the general scheme for the reorganisation of the Army which, it is understood, is under consideration, the Government are prepared to pay special attention to the question of the Militia in general, and to the position of the Militia in time of war; whether the matter of Militia battalions volunteering for foreign and for active service will engage their attention, with a view to place the present uncertain, undefined, and unsatisfactory system on a proper basis; whether, in cases where a large portion of the battalion do volunteer and the minority do not, distinct regulations will be enacted, to govern the acceptance or the rejection by the authorities of the offer; whether the present irregular system will be abolished—that is to say, the system (if it can be so called) whereby the volunteering is made to depend on the success of the persuasive powers of commanding officers, company officers, and non-commissioned officers, and whereby those (many or few) of the men who adhere to their engagement to serve only in the United Kingdom, except their consent is obtained to serve abroad, are placed at a disadvantage in the eyes of their fellow-soldiers; whether clear rules can be officially laid down as to the liability, in future, of the whole Militia to serve without volunteering; or whether, if that is not practicable, certain battalions can be raised and privileged to so serve; or, again, if that is impracticable, whether individual volunteers from Militia battalions will be accepted and transferred to the Regular Army, and incorporated therein; or, if that cannot be, whether any regulation will be framed which, in the opinion of the Government, can meet the desired end. I. also wish to ask how many battalions of Militia have volunteered during the present war; how many of these have had their offers accepted, and how" many rejected; whether any rule governs such acceptance and rejection; whether any battalions are ever asked by the authorities if they will serve or not, or whether the initiative has come, and is expected to come, from the battalions themselves; how many of the battalions who may have volunteered have done so unanimously; how many (if any) partially and conditionally; and how many (if any) have refused to volunteer; whether it is in contemplation to raise the Militia to a, position approximating to the Regular Army, with adequate years of training, and with adequate pensions and foreign service, or to limit its service wholly to. the United Kingdom, or to make any fundamental change in the organisation, of the Militia.

* THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (The Marquess of LANSDOWNE)

The noble and gallant Lord has adopted a procedure which is not without its advantage with the temperature at the present point. He has asked his questions in the briefest possible terms, and placed his arguments at some length on the Notice Paper. His questions relate to two matters. He desires, in the first place, to be made aware of our intentions with regard to various questions of importance affecting the Militia force, and he also asks for information as to certain matters of fact connected with the circumstances under which certain Militia battalions have lately been allowed to volunteer for service abroad. It may, perhaps, have escaped the attention of the noble Lord that, on the occasion of a recent debate on the subject of the Militia Ballot, I stated at length that there were certain changes which the Government intended to make at once in the Militia, but that with regard to the reorganisation of the force and the alteration of its conditions of service, we proposed to take no final step until we had been able to consider other questions of Army reorganisation, which, as I tried to show your Lordships, are very intimately connected with the question of the reorganisation of the Militia. I told the House that I, for my part, was much attracted by the idea of rendering the whole of the Militia force liable in time of war for service beyond the United Kingdom. I recognised that that, of course, involved the reconsideration of the question of the Militia bounty and the general conditions under which the force was recruited, and that it would also mean the disappearance of the present system under which Militia battalions are allowed to volunteer for service abroad. If a change was made affecting the whole Militia force there would no longer be any occasion to resort to volunteering. It would disappear with all the inconveniences which are called attention to in the questions of the noble Lord. That being the case, I confess I do not think there is very much advantage in discussing hypothetically the regulations which might or might not be enacted for the purpose of governing the acceptance or the rejection by the authorities of the offer of Militia battalions to serve abroad; nor, of course, is it possible for me to give the noble Lord any information as to the rules which might hereafter be laid down as to the liability of the force to serve with or without volunteer- ing. Still less is it possible for me to give the noble and gallant Lord any definite assurance of the kind which he seems to expect when he asks his last question as to the fundamental changes in the organisation of the Militia which we may hereafter find it desirable to introduce. I hope, therefore, that the noble Lord will not press me further on this point, but will be content with the assurance which I gave the House the other evening, and which, I think, satisfied those of your Lordships who were good enough to listen to me on that occasion. Then the noble Lord asks me some specific questions with regard to the circumstances under which certain Militia battalions lately volunteered for service outside the United Kingdom. The facts are these. Thirty battalions have gone to South Africa, four to the Mediterranean, and one to the island of St. Helena. Of those thirty five battalions, thirteen volunteered without any intimation from the War Office that it was intended to offer them the opportunity of serving abroad. The other twenty-two battalions volunteered in response to an intimation made to them that their services would be acceptable should they be disposed to offer them. But besides the thirteen battalions which volunteered spontaneously, forty other battalions also volunteered without any invitation from the military authorities. The noble Lord asks whether there is any rule which governs the acceptance or rejection of these offers from Militia battalions. There is no fixed rule. The decision rests with the Commander-in-Chief, who is, I believe, influenced by the strength of the battalion, the age of the men of whom it is composed, and by its general reputation for efficiency. Another question the noble Lord asked me was, "How many of the battalions who have volunteered have done so unanimously?" I find that in every battalion there were a certain number of individual Militiamen who declined to serve abroad. There wore five battalions which were offered the chance of so serving and which refused altogether, or, in other words, in those battalions the number of men who offered themselves was not sufficient to justify the acceptance of their services. I think those are the whole of the questions as to matters of fact which the noble Lord has asked me. I may, perhaps, be allowed to say that I am very far from disagreeing with the noble Lord in the view which I collect from his questions—namely, that there is a certain inconvenience in the system under which at present offers are accepted from Militia battalions. I have indicated to your Lordships that personally I should be very glad to sec a change made in the constitution of the force which would enable us to got rid altogether both of the Militia Reserve, which is so unpopular with Militia officers, and also of the present system of volunteering. I do not think, so far as I am able to learn, that any undue pressure has been put upon the men, but I certainly think there is an objection to a system which lends itself to the suspicion that pressure of that kind may be applied.

LORD BRAYE

I beg to thank the noble Marquess for having put the matter so clearly before the House, and to express my pleasure that the Government have seriously in view the whole question of the Militia force.