§ Colonel IVOR PHILIPPSasked the Secretary of State for War whether the directors of the South African garrison institutes are officers on full pay on the active list of the Army serving in South 1715W Africa; whether the Army Council has decided to raise no objection to these officers opening institutes, with the object of embarking in commercial undertakings, in any garrison towns in this country, provided in each case the general officer commanding-in-chief concurs; how many such branch institutes have been approved; whether it is proposed that the officers acting as directors of the South African institutes shall continue to hold their present appointments or shall be retired from the Army; and, if not, what proportion of their time is to be devoted to Army affairs and what proportion to the management of the branch institutes in this country?
§ Colonel SEELYThe reply to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The answer to the second and third parts of the question is that no branches in this country have been approved. The officers concerned devote only their leisure hours to the management of these institutes, which are not commercial undertakings in the generally accepted sense of the term; they receive no payment for these services. No action will be taken until further full consideration has been given to this matter.