LORD DENMANMy Lords, I beg to ask His Majesty's Government whether in view of the fact that a new Militia Reserve has been recently established, it is their intention to create an Imperial Yeomanry Reserve; and, if so, whether they propose to afford an opportunity to yeomen who have served in South Africa to join such a force. I should like to make myself quite clear as to what is understood by the term Imperial Yeomanry Reserve. Last autumn the Secretary of State for War introduced into Parliament a Militia and Yeomanry Bill. That part which dealt with the Militia was duly passed, but owing to the opposition of certain enthusiastic politicians, who are by way of being supporters of His Majesty Government, the part of the Bill which dealt with the Yeomanry was allowed to drop. That portion of the Bill provided for a Reserve or special service section of 5,000 men drawn from the regular Yeomanry, who, in return for certain considerations, undertook a liability to serve abroad in time of war should they be required to do so. I do not propose to make any observations on the advantages or disadvantages of that scheme. I would merely mention that a Militia Reserve existed before the war under somewhat similar conditions, that during the South African War over 14,000 men were taken from this Militia Reserve, and drafted straight into the Line, and that the complaints of commanding officers of Militia were naturally 1768 so bitter on this point that the War Office has now decided to stop enlistment for this Militia Reserve and to let it gradually die out. Possibly the noble Earl, the Under-Secretary will be able to tell me whether it is proposed to reintroduce into Parliament that part of the measure which dealt with the Yeomanry Reserve or special service section. But whether this measure be enacted or not, I think there is a more urgent need for another class of Yeomanry Reserve.
And here I am obliged incidentally to touch upon the present constitution of the Yeomanry force. I will at once say that I do not wish to pass any criticism upon that force, and that in my humble judgment the success which has attended the raising of it does great credit to the authors of the scheme. There was, however, one defect—it may have been an inevitable defect—and that was that a comparatively small number of the yeomen who served in South Africa joined the force at home. I believe that in actual numbers less than 10 per cent. of men wearing the South African medal are now serving in the regular force of Imperial Yeomanry. Various causes, I think, contribute to this. Some of the men are tied down by their business affairs, others went out to the war at great personal inconvenience and think they have already made sufficient sacrifices, whilst there is a larger class of men who, while they would be perfectly willing and anxious to go wherever there is active service, either at home or abroad, yet are unwilling to undertake the comparative monotony of soldiering even for a very short time at home. There is another class of men—viz., the men who will shortly pass out of the present force of Yeomanry, and whose services will be altogether lost to the country. Now, I think it might be possible to form some Reserve which would attract both these classes of men.
I will endeavour very briefly to outline such a scheme. I think that at the headquarters of every regiment of Yeomanry a roll might be kept of men willing to join, that they should be men who have served in South Africa or who have served not less than three trainings with the Imperial Yeomanry under the new regulations. I would suggest that the only obligatory period in the year should be attendances on the range at 1769 musketry for one or two days, or whatever was thought requisite, that the men should be invited to join the rifle club which exists in nearly every Yeomanry Corps at present, that they should be invited to attend all those social functions which are held in regiments at home, and that they should be treated, so to speak, as honorary members of the regiments to which they belong. On the question of pay there will, no doubt, be a diversity of opinion. For my own part, I believe that you could get a considerable number of men without any pay at all, but if it were necessary to give pay you might arrange to give the same scale of pay as you have given in the new Militia Reserve—that is, I believe, a bounty of £4 10s. for four years service. Lastly, I would touch briefly on the question of expense. I believe that there is a theory at the War Office at present that for every man you have on the Reserve strength you must keep in store for him a rifle, bandolier, a certain amount of ammunition, and uniform. For such a Reserve as I have endeavoured to outline I do not believe a uniform would be in the least necessary. In South Africa our uniforms were very often in rags, and men of my own squadron, instead of riding breeches had occasionally to wear a kilt made out of a sack. I do not think that with a good class of men the question of uniform affects them at all. With regard to officers, you would no doubt want officers for this Reserve. Naturally if you give these men no pay, or very small pay, they would only be liable for home defence; but I am convinced that in time of war, if you required them, a large number would be willing to serve either at home or abroad.
§ THE EARL OF HARDWICKEMy Lords, the noble Lord at the commencement of his speech referred to the fact that a Bill was introduced by the Secretary of State for War last autumn to constitute a Militia and Yeomanry Reserve and also a special section of Yeomanry for service abroad. It has some bearing on the Question on the Paper, because, as the House will recollect, the proposal to form a special section of Yeomanry for service abroad did not meet with the general approval of Members of the House of Commons and consequently was withdrawn by 1770 my right hon. friend the Secretary of State. The object of the Yeomanry Reserve for which the Bill provided—I may mention that we have the power now under that Bill to form a Yeomanry Reserve—really disappeared when the Secretary of State withdrew the proposal to form a special section, because it was intended that when the 5,000 men who formed the special section were called upon to serve abroad their places should have been filled by the Reserve that we proposed to constitute. As that part of the measure was withdrawn, for the present it was not considered necessary to take steps to form a Yeomanry Reserve, and more so in that at the present time, as the noble Lord is aware, the Yeomanry is not up to its full strength. It seems rather unnecessary to take steps to form a Yeomanry Reserve when your Yeomanry is not up to strength. We hope that in the course of a few months or a year, the Yeomanry will fill up to its full complement, and it is then the intention of the Secretary of State to see what can be done to form a Yeomanry Reserve. But I feel bound to mention to the noble Lord that all Yeomanry officers are not unanimous as to the desirability of forming a Yeomanry Reserve. There are some colonels who are very much opposed to it, and, therefore, the matter will want the very careful consideration of the military authorities before anything definite is done. At the same time I feel sure that the military authorities, and all concerned with the administration of the Army, would be sorry to lose any opportunity of having a lien on the services of those yeomen who have had experience in South Africa. Whether they will be prepared, as the noble Lord suggests, to serve without uniform in the same way as the cadet corps wish to serve, I am not prepared to say; but it certainly will be a novel idea to create a Reserve of Yeomanry without uniform, which, at the present time, is one of the attractions which induce men to join both Yeomanry and Volunteer regiments. The remarks which the noble Lord has made with reference to the scheme that is in his mind for the formation of a Yeomanry Reserve shall not be lost sight of when the time comes to consider the matter.
§ LORD WENLOCKCan the noble Earl state what number the Yeomanry are short?
§ THE EARL OF HARDWICKEI cannot state definitely. A few months ago the Yeomanry were about 6,000 short of their full strength, but I think the number is very much legs than that now.
§ LORD WENLOCKThat is, 6,000 short of 35,000?
§ THE EARL OF HARDWICKENo, 6,000 short of their full strength of 30,000.
§ LORD ROSMEADI understand that one of the reasons why it is not proposed to raise a Yeomanry Reserve is that the Yeomanry is not up to strength. May I ask if the Militia is up to strength? I understand there is a Militia Reserve.
§ THE EARL OF HARDWICKEThe Militia is not up to standard and never has been.