§ 6.24 p.m.
§ LORD TEMPLEMORE had given Notice that he would ask His Majesty's Government when it is proposed to resume the publication of the Monthly Army List 65 which was discontinued on the outbreak of the late war, and also move for Papers. The noble Lord said: My Lords, before I begin my speech I should like to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Pakenham, on his very well deserved promotion. I think we have all admired his work and the capacity he has shown during the last year for dealing with innumerable Bills and Motions on behalf of many Government Departments. May I say that as a fellow Irishman, I am delighted to see him in that place? Although I cannot honestly wish him a long tenure of office, I hope it will be highly successful, both for the sake of his own career and for the sake of the Department which he now serves.
§ I have put this matter into the form of a Motion because I wish to have the right of reply, if necessary, which I should not have if I had put it down as a question. However, I assure noble Lords that at this late hour I will not detain them for long. My object is to press the Government to resume the publication of the Monthly Army List as soon as possible. During the recent war, as we all know, it was suspended, both for reasons of economy of paper and also—and more important—for reasons of secrecy. I do not know how far the former reason obtains, but I hope I am not going to be told that the latter reason has any force behind it now and that for reasons of security it is necessary to suspend the issue of this publication. I say this because I have an idea—I may be wrong—that the noble Lord's Department is a great deal too fond of trying to make a sort of mystery box of the Army. I heard the other day of the Colonel of a certain regiment who wrote to the War Office and wanted to know the position of the battalions of his regiment. The reply he received was that they could not send him the information in writing, but if he went to a conference of Colonels a little time later he would be given it. As a matter of fact, my friend went to the conference and was given the information he wanted, and there was not much delay. But why this secrecy? Why could they not have sent it to him in writing? I regard this attitude as secrecy run mad.
§ We are now, slowly but surely, returning to our peace-time Army, and it is interesting, and essential, for officers and their relatives to know how they stand as regards promotion, and that sort of 66 thing, especially as officers are now returning to their units from the Staff and from extra-regimental employment all over the world. I know that in most cases they have not the faintest idea as to how they stand. It is also of interest to all ranks to be able to refer to an Army List and see where the battalions of their regiment are. I think I am right in saying that after the 1914–18 war (when the Army, by the way, was bigger than it was during the last war) the Army List was published again quite early in 1919. I could enlarge on this subject a good deal more than I am going to do, but I promised when I rose that I would not keep the House, and I will not. I hope the Government will lend a willing and receptive ear to my request. I beg to move for Papers.
§ 6.29 p.m.
THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (LORD PAKENHAM)My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord and to the House for the kind way in which they have received my appointment. I possess no qualification whatever for it except that I am deeply imbued—"obsessed" is not too strong a word—with the importance of national defence during the years that lie immediately ahead of us. I should like to begin speaking for the War Office by making some sensational disclosure, but I doubt whether I should survive for very long if I attempted anything in that line. I am afraid that the noble Lord will receive a reply from me this evening in keeping with the traditions of the Office which I have the honour to represent. I would say that the noble Lord, Lord Nathan, said to me this afternoon that he, with a good deal of experience of business and of contact with various Government Departments, had never found one so well run as the War Office. I am sure all noble Lords will echo that sentiment.
I will say at once that it is realized that there is a fairly widespread demand—I do not know how widespread, but fairly widespread—for the Army List, and it is the intention of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for War to resume publication as soon as this course becomes practicable. It will be appreciated, however, that the Army is in a state of transition from a war to a peace footing, and that all emergency commissioned officers still hold their Commissions, even if they 67 have been released. They will continue to do so until the present emergency is declared to be at an end so far as further service in the Forces is concerned. Until the size of the Army List can be reduced by the elimination of those emergency commissioned officers who are no longer serving, it would not be convenient or economical to resume publication. Moreover, it will first be necessary—and I would stress this point in all seriousness—to recast the Army List into a form suitable for general publication.
I am perfectly ready to give the noble Lord, or any other noble Lords, fuller information in private with regard to that point to which I have just alluded, the recasting of the Army List into a form suitable for general publication. This will be a considerable task which it would be undesirable to attempt until the List becomes more stabilized, and until the situation regarding labour, printing capacity and the supply of paper becomes much easier than it is at present. For these reasons, much as I regret not to be able to give the noble Lord the kind of answer he desires, and perhaps I should say deserves, I am afraid I must inform him that I cannot hold out any hope that publication will be possible in the near future.
§ LORD TEMPLEMOREMy Lords, the noble Lord was at all events honest. In his last phrase he did not promise me that this publication would be made at an early date or anything of that kind. But I am afraid I cannot regard his reply as in any degree satisfactory. He talks about recasting the Army List, but I do not quite know what he means by that. You have the same units as you had before, the Royal Armoured Corps, the Artillery, the Infantry and the various departments. You can put them down in the same order. As regards putting in the officers who hold temporary Commissions, I do not see why that should be any bar to the issue of the Army List. It was done in 1919 when there were still a lot of temporary officers, and they were put down, and as they went out, resigning their Commissions or being demobilized, they were dropped out. I could discourse on this a good long time but I am afraid I do not regard the reason as at all satisfactory. I am disappointed, but I thank 68 the noble Lord for his courtesy and his reply. I beg leave to withdraw my Motion for Papers.
§ Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.