VOLUNTEERS BILL [H.L.] (Hansard, 18 May 1900)

§ * THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (The Marquess of LANSDOWNE)
My Lords, I have to ask your Lordships to give a First Reading to a Bill to amend the Volunteer Act of 1863. The Bill makes two alterations in the law affecting the Volunteer force, which I would ask leave to explain in a very few words to your Lordships. In the first place, it contains a new definition of the conditions under which the Volunteer force may be called out for actual military service. Section 17 of the Volunteer Act of 1863 runs as follows— In case of actual or apprehended invasion of any part of the United Kingdom (the occasion being first communicated to both Houses of Parliament, if Parliament is sitting, or declared in Council and notified by Proclamation, if Parliament is not sitting) Her Majesty may call out the Volunteer corps of the respective counties, or any of them, for actual military service. 533 I have no doubt that the words "in case of actual or apprehended invasion" represent correctly the idea prevalent when the Act was passed of the purpose for which the Volunteer force was maintained and of its place in the military system of this country; and I do not for a moment suggest that resistance to invasion is not the primary raison d'être of the Volunteer force. But it does seem to us that this reference to actual or apprehended invasion is a clumsy and inconvenient formula. I think it is clear that we might desire to call out the Volunteers for actual military service at some moment of great international tension, when it was not at all advisable or desirable to proclaim to the whole world that we apprehend invasion of any part of the United Kingdom. We propose, accordingly, to substitute for the words to which I have referred the words which are used in the Reserve Forces Act, 1882, and in the Militia Act of the same year—namely, "in case of imminent national danger or great emergency." When the law has been thus amended, the liability of the Volunteer will remain limited by these two conditions. He will be liable to be called upon for actual military service when the existence of an emergency has been proclaimed, and he will be liable only within the limits of the United Kingdom. So far as the whole Volunteer force is concerned, we have no idea of getting rid of these restrictions, but we believe there are many Volunteers who will be very glad to come up for service even when there has been no proclamation of emergency, and on occasion beyond the limits of the United Kingdom. If that is right, and if we should be justified in accepting services proffered in this manner, I think it is clear that we should do well to ascertain beforehand what Volunteers are ready to come forward, and to arrive at some understanding as to the part which they might be called upon to play, and also to see that in point of military and physical efficiency they are fit for the special duties which they might be called upon to assume. Therefore we propose in this Bill to take powers under which the Volunteers will be able to enter into an agreement which will render them liable to service at any time whether a proclamation of emergency has been issued or not, and in any part of the world, whether within or without the limits of the United Kingdom. I will give your Lordships an 534 illustration of the manner in which, in our anticipation, this provision might operate. The whole Volunteer force, as your Lordships are probably aware, has a place in the schemes which have been prepared for the defence of the United Kingdom. Now, it seems to me quite conceivable that we might wish, in certain circumstances which we can easily imagine, to be able to place a part of the Volunteer force quietly and unostentatiously in those particular fortresses or at those vulnerable points at which their place would be found when hostilities had actually broken out, and to be able to do this without calling out the whole of the Volunteer force. It is with that object that we take powers to accept the services of Volunteers who may assume the liability of coming-out at a time when the proclamation of emergency has not yet been issued. Then there is a different contingency. In a case where hostilities have actually broken out and are in progress beyond the limits of the United Kingdom, we think it highly probable that a part of the Volunteer force will desire to do what they have lately been doing, and make some contribution to the forces employed in the field. Our recent experience in this respect has been very remarkable. The Volunteer force—and I do not think we can give them sufficient credit for it— have contributed no less than sixty-five service companies, with the necessary drafts, companies which are at this moment serving with the Line battalions to which they are affiliated in South Africa. We have also seen a very magnificent force of 1,500 men who have been sent as Volunteers, representing the Volunteer force of this great city; and I may tell your Lordships that the manner in which these men have conducted themselves in the field has elicited the warm approval and admiration of the generals under whom they have been serving. In our anticipation, if similar circumstances were again to occur it is likely that the Volunteers would again desire to bear the same honourable part; and if we are to look forward to their doing so it is desirable that the necessary arrangements should not be left, as they necessarily were left on this occasion, to be improvised at the last moment, but that we should make them beforehand and not in the midst of the hurry and confusion which are inseparable from the prepara- 535 tion of a great armed force. We think that we should know beforehand what number of men we can count upon, where they are to be found, and what degree of efficiency they have attained. We take power, therefore, as I explained to your Lordships a moment ago, to agree with Volunteers to come forward for service in any part of the world, whether within or without Her Majesty's dominions. I cannot insist too much upon this: that the arrangement which we contemplate is one which is entirely optional with the Volunteers themselves. We propose to accept the services only of those who desire to offer their services, and in the rules which we shall make in order to give effect to this Bill we intend that it shall be made perfectly clear that any Volunteer who joins what I suppose will be called the Special Service Section of his battalion should be free to leave it and to divest himself of his obligation on giving a reasonable notice to the military authorities. The only other explanatory observation which I will add is this: that we have prepared this Bill in consultation with a number of representative Volunteer officers, and that we have every reason to believe that the measure is one acceptable to the force because it will give them an opportunity of rendering again the very signal service which they have recently rendered, and of rendering it under conditions more convenient to the War Department and to themselves.

THE EARL OF KIMBERLEY
My Lords, I should be doing very wrong if I were to criticise this Bill merely upon the statement which the noble Marquess has made—very clearly, no doubt—of its provisions. But there is one proposal, the one to which he last referred—namely, the creation of a set of Volunteers under special liabilities to serve abroad—which seems to me a very serious one; and without in the least saying that it may not be found upon examination to be a wise measure, I wish to say a word of caution concerning it. I think there is a great deal of danger in using the Volunteers for purposes for which they were not originally intended. As the noble Marquess said, the intention has always been that the Volunteers should be a body to be called out when the United 536 Kingdom was in special danger. You have, of course, always been ready to accept the voluntary services of Militia, battalions abroad, although Militiamen are not obliged to serve out of this country; and therefore, no doubt, you have a Militia Reserve which is a very useful body. But whether it is wise to extend this provision to the Volunteers and place them under entirely new conditions, I feel some doubt. I can quite conceive that at the present time, when there is a natural enthusiasm in the country owing to the war, there may be a very strong desire to have some new arrangement of this kind, but we have to. consider the state of affairs which will prevail in time of peace; and I have some-fear lest the provision in the Bill should, tend to discourage and not to encourage the enlistment of Volunteers in time of peace. This particular provision of the Bill, therefore, ought to receive careful consideration; but I must by no means be understood to have examined it care fully or to have formed any definite opinion upon it.

§ THE EARL OF NORTHBROOK
I trust that on the Second Reading stage the noble Marquess will be able to state somewhat more clearly what the plans of the Government are for increasing the military forces of the country. At the beginning of this session the noble Marquess said—and his contention was accepted, I think, by the House—that in the middle of the war it was not desirable to make any general proposals respecting the military strength of the country; but it seems to me that the Bill the First Reading of which he has now moved respecting the Volunteers does touch that question. Therefore I think the Second. Reading stage might provide a convenient opportunity for the noble Marquess to state more clearly what course the Government intend to take in respect of the military forces of the country generally, and especially with reference to the Militia.