Mr. EDGAR HORNEasked the Secretary of State for War whether it is the case that the ⅕th Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment has left Basra for home, having transferred 280 men and nine officers to the ⅕th East Surrey Regiment; whether 190 of these men enlisted in 1914 and 1915 as Volunteers; whether they have already spent three hot weathers in Mesopotamia and one in India; and when it is proposed they should return home?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThe ⅕th Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment is being reduced to a cadre, but so far orders have not been issued for the cadre to return home. Personnel surplus to cadre establishment will be absorbed into other units affiliated to the same record office, to be either sent for dispersal in the normal manner if eligible for demobilisation or to be retained if not eligible. Those who are eligible for demobilisation are being brought home as rapidly as circumstances and shipping accommodation permit.