§ Colonel YATEasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether, considering the fact that the present system of quarterly payments to reservists tends to expose the men to temptation and to bring discredit on the good name of the soldier, he will state what are the arrangements that can be made in case any man is wasting the money or spending it unwisely to have the payments made weekly instead of quarterly; and how far these arrangements can be made more general?
§ Colonel SEELYI find that the arrangements which can be made with boards of guardians or weekly payments apply only to pensioners, and not to reservists, and that no alteration can be made in the method of paying reservists without their consent. I will, however, have careful inquiry made as to whether reserve pay could not be paid monthly instead of quarterly. The main difficulty in this matter is that as the payments are now made quarterly in arrear it would cost an extra £200,000 in. the year in which it was introduced.