THE EARL OF DUNRAVENMy Lords, I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State the question standing in my name, namely—Of how many brigades and divisions is each of the six proposed army corps to consist; and are the respective staffs to be in accordance with the regulations for an army in the field.
*THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Lord RAGLAN)The proposed army corps will consist for peace or war of the number of divisions and brigades laid down in "War Establishments, 1900"—that is, of three divisions and six brigades each. In peace time, in the last three army corps, the divisions and brigades, being partly composed of troops of the Auxiliary forces, will only be completely organised as such during the drill season. With regard to staffs, those of the first three army corps will contain all the necessary brigade and divisional commanders, with their subordinates, in accordance with the regulations for an army in the field, with the modification that there are 230 certain appointments incident to field operations—of which commandant at headquarters, provost-marshal, and director of telegraphs are instances—not required in time of peace, which will not be made till mobilisation is ordered. The last three army corps will contain so much of their complete staff as is necessary for peace and the nucleus of the total staff for war, but in every case the whole of the troops and the staffs within the area of his command will be under the control of the army corps commander, who will recommend whatever steps he thinks proper for filling up the skeleton staffs during manœuvres or when the troops are called out for training.