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FORM NO. 2.
Declaration of Officer and Volunteer to be male in lieu of the Oath, if such Officer or Volunteer objects to take the Oath.
1, 4.B., do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King GEORGE the Fifth, His Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully serve His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, in the....
Corps in accordance with the provisions of the Hongkong Volunteer Ördi- nance, 1920, and of the regulations and rules which may be in force thereunder from time to time.
Objects and Reasons.
1. The object of this Ordinance is to provide for the establishment of a new Volunteer Force to take the place of the existing Volunteer Corps and Volunteer Reserve.
2. The bill is founded on the existing Volunteer Or- dinance, 1893, which was based on the English Volun- teer Act, 1863, 26 & 27 Vict, e. 65.
3. The details of the constitution of the corps which it is proposed to form under this Ordinance are given in the Regulations contained in the First Schedule to the bill.
4. Enlistment in the corps will be entirely voluntary, and there will be no automatic transfer to it froin the existing volunteer bodies. Application forms will be circulated and will be available at the present Volunteer Head Quarters, and applicants for admission to the new volunteer corps will be given opportunity of stating ou such forms the name which they would prefer for the new corps.
The forms when filled in should be sent to the present Volunteer Head Quarters.
Administrative
5. In clause 2 of the bill the term Commandant" appears instead of the old term "Com- manding Officer of the Corps". The reason for this is a technical military one. It is merely to enable the officers who shall be in executive command of the artillery, engineer, and machine gun companies to communicate on questions of training direct with the C.R.A., C.R.E., and General Officer Commanding, respectively. If the senior officer of the new volunteer corps were styled Commanding Officer such commu- nications would have to pass through him, which might cause unnecessary delay, and which would occasion unnecessary work. It will be seen from the regulations in the First Schedule that the Administrative Com- mandant may be either a volunteer officer or a regular officer, and that if he is a volunteer officer the Adjutant must be a regular officer. The only other alteration in clause 2 of the bill is the omission of the mmecessary definition of the term "actual military service ' and the insertion of a definition of the term “General Officer Commanding the Troops ".
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6. The only alteration of any importance in clause 5 is the insertion of a provision that every volunteer is to engage to serve for three years.
This will not prevent his resigning from the corps, but unless he resigns for some good reason he will have to pay a sum of money, not exceeding $60, which will be fixed according to the length of his service in the corps. For example, if he resigns in the second year, he will have to pay the sum of $40. No sum will be payable on resignation under this provision if the member resigning is leaving the Colony forthwith for a period of at least one year, or if he resigns for any other cause which the Administrative Commandant may consider reasonable and bonâ fide.