§ Captain BURGOYNEasked the Secretary of State for War if additional clerical assistance is urgently needed in the Intelligence division at the War Office; if applications from ladies offering their services are refused on the ground that they are not widows of officers killed in the War or the holders of university degrees; and, if so, whether he will consider the advisability of informing officers' widows that should they desire it their names will be noted for employment as vacancies in the Intelligence division arise?
§ Mr. FORSTERThere is no special need for clerical assistance in the Intelligence branch of the War Office, though ladies with a knowledge of German, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages are required. The Intelligence branch, like the rest of the War Office, receives the bulk of its civil staff from the Civil Service Commission; but in certain cases, which correspond broadly with the classes indicated in the second part of the question, staff is already engaged direct by the War Office.