Mr. RUTHERFORDasked the Under-Secretary of State for War how many officers of the General Staff, from brigadier-generals downwards, at present at the General Headquarters, Home Forces, and in the several Commands at home have held such appointments continuously for twelve months and upwards; and whether he will consider the adoption of a rule that every officer appointed to the General Staff at Home must serve at least six months in every year in a British Expeditionary Force?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONOut of the total of General Staff officers employed at General Headquarters, Home Forces, and at Headquarters of various Commands at Home, 54 per cent. have been changed during the year ending on 15th November, 1917, and 46 per cent. have held their appointments for more than a year. It must not be forgotten that many of the functions of the General Staff are such that continuity of tenure of appointments is necessary in the interests of efficiency.
Mr. RUTHERFORDasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he has any objection to give particulars of the names and rank of the officers now at the Headquarters of the several Commands in the Home Forces who or whose parents were of enemy origin—that is to say, either German, Austrian, Bulgarian, or Turkish—and whose names are not the same or not spelled in the same way as they were a few years ago?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONI regret that this information is not available.