§ Mr. HOHLERasked the Secretary of State for War whether the reason why the armourers' section of the Army Ordnance Corps start as staff-sergeants is due to the proficiency they have acquired at their own expense, qualifying them for this section, before entering the Service; whether he can recruit men thus qualified for the pay a private receives in other branches of the Service; whether there is any other branch of the Service in which a man has to wait eighteen years or upwards from his entering the Service before obtaining promotion; whether this delay in promotion is increasing; and whether he will consider the case, with a view to devising some 163W scheme which will either accelerate promotion or improve the pay and position of the armourers' section?
§ Mr. HALDANEAs regards the first part of the question, armourers are for the most part enlisted and trained at the expense of the State. As regards the rest of the question, proposals are under consideration with a view to some acceleration of promotion in the armourers' section.