LORD RAGLANI have one other question to ask the noble Marquess—namely, whether any decision has been arrived at as to the wholesale supersession of Militia officers in South Africa by officers of other and junior forces.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEWhen the noble Lord brought this matter before the House the other day* I promised him I would take the advice of persons better acquainted with questions of military precedence than a civilian can pretend to be. I have taken that advice, and I am sorry to tell him that the only conclusion I can come to is that the supersession of which he complains must continue. I do not think he is quite correct when he describes it as the "supersession of militia officers in South Africa by officers of other and junior forces." What has happened is this. We have given to officers in the Imperial Yeomanry, to officers in certain Volunteer companies, and to Militia officers attached to Line regiments, commissions in the Regular Army. We did it in the cases of the Imperial Yeomanry and the Imperial Volunteers because the commissions of officers in these branches of the service did not confer upon them any right of command outside the United Kingdom. To meet that difficulty we had to enlist the men of the Imperial Yeomany and the Imperial Volunteers in the Regular Army, and to give to their officers commissions in the Regular Army, and the result has, no doubt, been that these officers, in virtue of holding these temporary commissions in the Regular Army, do take precedence of officers of the same rank in the Militia. I can understand that there may be some little feeling of sentiment about this matter; but I am assured that
* See page 425 of this Volume.626 what we have done can really lead to very little practical inconvenience. The occasions upon which a senior Militia officer would find himself superseded or commanded by a junior officer of the same rank—say, of the Imperial Yeomanry—would be very few and far between. I would be very glad if my noble friend or anyone else would suggest a solution of the difficulty other than that which has commended itself to us; but up to the present it has not been forthcoming; and I rather put it to your Lordships that this is one of those minor inconveniences to which we have to submit in time of war. It is an emergency measure, and a measure of temporary operation. I have very often had to consider questions of supersession in the Army, and no doubt, when the case is one in which an officer or a number of officers are permanently superseded by their brother officers, the matter becomes very serious, because then the effect is a lasting one upon the career of the superseded officer; but in this case the matter is, as your Lordships are aware, merely one of temporary importance. These commissions in the Regular Army are given to officers of the Imperial Yeomanry and the Imperial Volunteers only while the war lasts. When the war is over the officers revert to their former positions, and the Militia, officers will no longer be junior to them.