HL Deb 31 July 1903 vol 126 cc1031-3
THE EARL OF WEMYSS

My Lords, I have so often spoken upon this subject that I do not propose to make any remarks in putting the Question which stands in my name to the noble Duke, and which reads as follows:— "To ask the President of the Council of Imperial Defence whether the question of the Militia ballot has engaged the attention of the Council, and further, inasmuch as Lord Lansdowne when Secretary for War, brought in an amending Bill bringing the present Militia Ballot Act up to date, and proceeded no further with it; is it the intention of His Majesty's Government, at any time, to proceed with this Bill and to pass it into law; and if so, when." If your Lordships will look at the paper you will see that I have a Militia Ballot Bill down for Second Reading, and that will enable me, if anything is said by the noble Duke in answer to this Question which appears to me to require a reply, to say what I have to say then. At present I confine myself to putting the Question standing in my name.

The LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE)

My Lords, I think it must be clear to your Lordships that the proceedings of the Committee of Defence are, and must be, of an extremely confidential character, and that it is my duty, as President of the Committee, to be extremely cautions in giving any reply to the Question of the noble Earl which might in any way be drawn into a precedent for further inquiries on matters under the consideration of the Committee. I believe that it is quite true that a statement was made the other day in the other House of Parliament relating to a force being maintained in South Africa, in which, reference was made to the fact that the question had been under the consideration of the Defence Committee, and that the proposals of the Government were founded upon the recommendations of the Committee Well, my Lords, that statements related to a subject which it was prepared on its own responsibility to make a proposal and the fact, therefore, that it had been considered, before the Government made a definite proposal, by the Committee could be stated, no doubt, without any inconvenience. But the matters with which this Committee has had, and may have, in the future to deal are, as I have stated, of so confidential a character, that I think it will be well in the future to err rather on the side of prudence and caution, and to refrain as far as possible from any reference to the proceedings of a Committee which are necessarily of so confidential a character. What Parliament has, I conceive, to deal with, are the decisions which are arrived at by the Government, necessarily on its own responsibility; and I am quite sure that the Government had no desire, neither would it be justified in sheltering itself in regard to any decision behind the decision of a Committee of this character. I must, therefore, decline to give any further answer to the first part of the noble Earl's Question. The noble Earl, however, asks in the latter part of the Question whether it is the intention of His Majesty's Government at any time to proceed with the Bill which was introduced some sessions ago by my noble friend Lord Lansdowne, when Secretary of State for War, and to pass it into law, and, if so, when. I think in putting that Question the noble Earl must have forgotten that at an earlier period of the session the Government recommended the appointment of a Commission, the reference to which was: To inquirer into the organisation, numbers, and terms of service of our Militia and Volunteer forces, and to report whether any, and if any what, changes are required in order to secure that those forces should be maintained in a condition of military efficiency, and at an adequate strength. I think it must be quite clear to the House, and I trust also to the noble Earl, that a time when this Commission has been appointed and is conducting its investigations, would be the very last at which it would occur to the Government to proceed with a Bill dealing with part of the very subject under the consideration of the Commission. Therefore the only answer which I can give to the noble Earl is that it certainly is not the intention of the Government at the present time to proceed with the measures, and its action as to the future must depend, at all events, in part upon the Report which it may obtain from the Commission which has been appointed.