LORD RAGLANMy Lords, I beg to I ask Her Majesty's Government how many Militia there are in the United Kingdom at the present time, how many of these are Militia Reserve belonging to regiments that have a battalion or battalions in South Africa, and how many are recruits who have not served a training. My object in asking the second question is that Militia Reserve men are practically ear-marked for South Africa. They will, in all probability, go out in a short space of time, and will, therefore, sooner or later, cease to be available for home defence.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (The Marquess of LANSDOWNE)My Lords, the number of Militia in the United Kingdom at the present time is altogether 82,560; that number includes the permanent staff and officers. Of that number 11,320 are men belonging to the Militia Reserve of regiments having a battalion or battalions in South Africa. The 426 number of men included in the grand total who have not served a training is 16,524, but although these men have not gone through a training in the usual sense of the word it would be hardly fair to describe them as untrained men, because a great number of them belong to Militia battalions which have for some time past been embodied at home, and it is obvious that the men of a battalion which has been for some weeks or months embodied have undergone a very considerable amount of training. It may interest the noble Lord to know that of the 39 Militia battalions embodied at home at this moment 22 have now been embodied for three months, 13 for two months, and 4 for one month, and the whole of the men belonging to those 39 battalions may fairly be considered to have undergone a considerable amount of military training.
LORD RAGLANWill the noble Marquess state whether recruiting for the Militia is proceeding satisfactorily?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEI have no very recent information, but my information, such as it is, goes to show that the recruiting for the Militia is proceeding fairly well.