Jackson, R. S. Jardine, Sir J. Jenkins, J. Johnson, John (Gateshead) Kennedy, Vincent Paul Lamb, Edmund C. (Leominster Lever, W. H. (Cheshire, Wirral) Nannetti, Joseph P. Nicholson, Charles N. (Doncast'r Norman, Sir Henry O'Kelly, Conor (Mayo, N.) Lloyd-George, Rt. Hon. David Pearce, William (Limehouse) Lough, Thomas Pease, J. A. (Saffron Walden) Power, Patrick Joseph Redmond, John E. (Waterford) Robson, Sir William Snowdon Rutherford, V. H. (Brentford) NOES. Baldwin, Stanley Seaverns, J. H. Seely, Colonel Shackleton, David James Smeaton, Donald Mackenzie Smyth, Thomas F. (Leitrim, S.) Stanley, Albert (Staffs, N. W.) Taylor, John W. (Durham) Thompson, J.W.H. (Somerset, E. Waldron, Laurence Ambrose Ward, W. Dudley (Southampt'n Warner, Thomas Courtenay T. White, J. D. (Dumbartonshire) Williams, Llewelyn (Carmarth'n Wilson, Hon. G. G. (Hull, W.) TELLERS FOR THE AYES- Beauchamp, E. Beckett, Hon. Gervase Balfour, Rt Hn. A.J. (CityLond.) Bowles, G. Stewart Bridgeman, W. Clive Carson, Rt. Hon. Sir Edw. H. Cecil, Evelyn (Aston Manor) Forster, Henry William Gibbs, G. A. (Bristol, West) Goulding, Edward Alfred Gretton, John Guinness, Walter Edward Houston, Robert Paterson Powell, Sir Francis Sharp Roberts, S. (Sheffield, Ecclesall) Smith, Abel H. (Hertford, East) Smith, Hon. W. F. D. (Strand) Soares, Ernest J. Kennaway, Rt.Hn. Sir John H. Smith, F.E.(Liverpool, Walton) Law, Andrew Bonar (Dulwich) Lyttelton, Rt. Hon. Alfred Nicholson, Wm. G. (Petersfield) O'Neill, Hon. Robert Torrens Resolved, That the present system of Government in Ireland is in opposition to the will of the Irish people and gives them no voice in the management of their own affairs; that the system is consequently inefficient and extravagantly costly; that it does not enjoy the confidence of any section of the population; that it is productive of universal discontent and unrest, and is incapable of satisfactorily promoting the material and intellectual progress of the people; that the reform of Irish Government is a matter vital to the interests of Ire Stanley, Hn. Arthur (Ormskirk Whitbread, Howard Whitehead, Rowland TELLERS FOR THE NOES-Sir Alexander Acland-Hood and Viscount Valentia. the well-being of the people of Great Britain; and, in the opinion of this House, the solution of this problem can only be attained by giving to the Irish people the legislative and executive control of all purely Irish affairs, subject to the supreme authority of the Imperial Parliament. And, it being after half-past Eleven of the clock on Monday evening, Mr. SPEAKER adjourned the House without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order. Adjourned at seven minutes after An Asterisk (*) at the commencement of a Speech indicates revision by the Member. HOUSE OF LORDS. Tuesday, 31st March, 1908. PRIVATE BILL BUSINESS. The LORD CHANCELLOR acquainted the House, That the Clerk of the Parliaments had laid upon the Table the Certificate from the Examiners that the Standing Order applicable to the following Bill has been complied with :-Local Government (Ireland) Provisional Orders (No. 1) [H.L.]. The same was ordered to lie on the TREATY SERIES, No. 7 (1908). Convention between the United Kingdom and France respecting commercial relations between France and Barbados, signed at London, 9th January, 1907. Great Western Railway Bill [H.L.].- (Ratifications exchanged at London 18th Reported with Amendments. March, 1908). Table. CAPE OF GOOD HOPE (OBSERVATORY). Report of His Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope to the Secretary of the Admiralty, for the years 1906-1907. VOL. CLXXXVII. [FOURTH SERIES.] 1875. Order in Council, dated 19th March 1908, amending the Order in Council of 28th July, 1893, as amended by the Order in Council of 7th May, 1907, reting to the Circuits of the Judges. Laid before the House (pursuant to Act), and ordered to lie on the Table. SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE ACT, | War—(1) What assistance, if any, will be given to County Associations in the matter of recruiting by the military authorities to enable them to raise the number of recruits required for the various arms of the new force? (2) When the new units are actually raised, and the military authorities are compelled to retrench original members of the County Associations to make room for the representatives of the new arms, in order to avoid this invidious and unpleasant necessity, will the Secretary of State consider the advisability of having a supplemental list? (3) In the event of a range situated in one county, which owing to the disbandment of a unit in that county may no longer be required, where private contributions have been employed to secure the range, will com PATENTS AND DESIGNS BILL [H.L.]. Reported from the Standing Committee without amendment; and to be read 3a to-morrow. MUNICIPAL REPRESENTATION Reported from the Standing Committee without further amendment: The Report of the Amendments made in Compensation be given? If arrangements mittee of the Whole House to be received to-morrow. SUNDAY CLOSING (SHOPS) BILL [H.L.]. Reported from the Standing Committee with further Amendments; The Report of the Amendments made in Committee of the Whole House and by the Standing Committee to be received on Thursday next, and Bill to be printed as amended. can be made to transfer the range to another county, will the two commanding officers of the units concerned be entitled to agree on the terms of transfer, or will such arrangements be entrusted to the County Associations or the Army Council? (4) The County Associations have to provide horses for ordinary training. The country has been partitioned by the military authorities into suitable areas for the purchase of horses in the event of mobilisation. What will be the relative position of the County Associations and the military purchasers? Will the military authorities purchase Order of the Day for the Second both for the Regular Army and the Reading read. ARMY (ANNUAL) BILL. [SECOND READING.] Moved, Territorial Force, or will the County Associations be expected to find horses either by hire or purchase for their “unit?” own troops? (5) What is a The noble Earl said: My Lords, as the period of the existence of the old Volunteer system is rapidly coming to an end, I venture to think that the Questions I desire to put to the noble That the Bill be now read Earl the Under-Secretary are of con2a" (The Earl of Portsmouth.) On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House To-morrow. THE TERRITORIAL FORCE. *THE EARL OF DARTMOUTH rose to ask the Under-Secretary of State for siderable importance. My first Question refers to what assistance, if any, is to be given to the County Associations in their task of raising the recruits necessary for the various arms of the Territorial Force, and I think it is obvious that every possible assistance should be given to those who have undertaken to raise these new arms if they are to carry out satisfactorily the duties occur. as vacancies The third Question standing in my name on the Paper is one of some little personal difficulty. It concerns ranges, and I ask it not as a member of a County Association, but in the disembodied spirit of a disbanded colonel of a Volunteer regiment. they have so willingly undertaken. the Associations, who will attend the Sergeant-instructors are now responsible meetings and speak, and vote, and for recruiting for the Regulars, and, gradually be absorbed however good a sergeant-instructor may be as such, he is liable to be sent back to his regiment if his efforts as a recruiting sergeant are not successful. That is a system which I hope will not be maintained in the future, because in the new Territorial Force he would obviously be under two masters; and there is a strong objection, in certain parts of the country, on the part of village mothers to allow their sons to join the Reserve Forces if they can help it, because they feel that if the sergeant-instructor once gets hold of them they will pass them on to the Line. It would be instructive for us to know whose servant the sergeant-in-peated last year. By this scheme the structor is going to be, and we desire to know whether any professional assistance will be given to the County Associations in the matter of recruiting. My second Question has reference to the County Associations, and the point I raise will become an important one at a very early date. I hope the noble Earl appreciates my use of the word "retrench," because that, I think, accurately describes the position at the present time. I understand, from an answer given in another place by the UnderSecretary of State for the Colonies, that retrenchment may mean retirement, while hon. Members on the other side of the House are of opinion that retrenchment must mean discharge. When the new units are actually raised and room has to be found on the County Associations for the representatives of the new arms, the original members of those Associations will have either to be retired or discharged; and as it is very important to secure the assistance of as many as possible of those gentlemen who will have taken an active part in the early formation of the Territorial Force, it is obviously undesirable that they should be turned off the County Associations just at the moment when their experience is beginning to be of value. What I would impress upon the noble Earl is this, that the County Associations should be given the opportunity, if they so desire, of having a supernumerary list composed of the representatives of the new units, who will have all the privileges of members of The next Question is a very important one, and refers to the provision of horses. Two years ago chief constables were asked to make in quiries in their respective districts about available horses. The request was re provision of horses for the Territorial Force is thrown on the County Associations. A further communication has now been made suggesting a division of the county into areas for horse buying in case of mobilisation-that is to say, apparently, for providing the necessary horses for the Regular Army on sudden mobilisation. I should like to ask what will be the position respectively of the Regular Army and the Territorial Force when mobilisation takes place. It has been pointed out, on more than one occasion, that it is absolutely important to have horses that have been trained to perform the duties required of them. The County Associations have to provide horses for ordinary training. Will the War Office representative be able to take all those horses for the Regular Army on mobilisation? It is just as well that we should know how we stand. We quite recognise, of course, that the Regular Army must come first, but we wish to know in what position we stand. а My last Question is-What is "unit"? The noble Earl the UnderSecretary has written to me privately regarding this Question, and has asked whether I have anything at the back of my mind. I have not. From the civilian point of view a unit is one. I have a little book on tactics; I do not know whether it is very reliable, but it appears from it that, from the military point of view, a unit is any number of troops exceeding one. From the civilian point of view a mounted soldier would be a unit. In the event of misadventure |