§ * THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, I have to ask your Lordships to give a First Reading to a Bill to amend the Reserve Forces Act, 1882. The Reserve, as your Lordships may be aware, now consists of two divisions. In the first place there are the men who, after serving seven years with the colours, serve for five years with the Reserve, receiving Reserve pay at the rate of sixpence per day. In the next place there are the men who, after the twelve years have been completed, are allowed to serve on in the Reserve for a further period of four years, receiving pay at the rate of fourpence a day. Under the law as it now stands, the Reservists of the second division cannot be called up until all the Reservists of the first division have been exhausted. The operation of that rule has proved extremely inconvenient. Regiments are not provided with Reservists of the first division in uniform numbers. Some have more and some have less than they require for the purposes of mobilisation. It follows that some regiments want their Reservists of the second division long before the other regiments; but the law requires that the regiment which is deficient in Reservists of the first division must not call upon its men of the second division until all the other regiments have called up the whole of their Reservists of the first division. In other words, the law says you may not take the men 1457 whom you do want until the other regiments have called up a number of men whom they do not want. The operation of that has been extremely inconvenient. I will give your Lordships a case which occurred quite recently. A certain number of Line regiments had got to the end of their Reservists of the first division, and we wanted to call up their second division men. The Guards, on the other hand, for reasons with which I need not trouble the House, had by no means got to the end of their first division reservists; and so, in order to enable the Line regiments to get the men they wanted, we were obliged to call up the whole of the remainder of the Guards first division men, and, as we did not want them, to send them away on furlough. I need not say that the result was inconvenient and expensive to the War Office, and no less inconvenient to those unfortunate soldiers who were called up at a moment when we did not require them. The Bill simply proposes to amend the law to this effect—that any regiment which has exhausted its own first division Reservists may call up its own second division men, even though other regiments have not come to the end of their first division men. This change in the law will to some extent increase the liability of the Reservists in the second division, and I think it will be necessary to add somewhat to their reserve pay. Of course, the effect of the Bill will be prospective, and it will not apply to men who are already serving in the Reserve.
§ Bill read 1a; and to be printed. (No. 105.)
§ House adjourned at a quarter past Seven or the Clock, to Monday the 18th of June next, a quarter past four of the Clock.