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3.
For the appointment of Officer Commanding the
Infantry Battalion, I have on the recommendation of the General Officer Commanding selected Major H. A. Morgan, at present 441
commanding the 18th Infantry, in addition to his substantive duties, and I have approved from Colonial Funds an annual salary of £375, which is half the salary formerly paid to Major Pritchard when Commandant of the Hongkong Volunteer Corps, together with a house allowance of $900 per m nun.
4.
There was a good deal of public opposition to the Bill until it was modified to make compulsion apply for the
duration of war and for six months after its conclusion. But
even when so modified there remained some opposition which I met by the statement I made in the debate on the second reading.
I will report later for purposes of record the actual number of recruits for the Corps which compulsion will obtain.
5.
You will observe that the age limit is high
but that, under the provisions for training in the first
appendix to the Ordinace, the training for men between 45 and
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50 years of age are reduced to about half of what is expected
of younger man, while for men of over 50 the training is at the
discretion of the General Officer Commanding and will be
further modified.
6.
A good deal of criticism was made in certain
quarters on the subject of the application of the Army Act to
the Corps, and in view of the indication that fears were enter-
tained regarding the enjoyment of Civil Rights which have not
been interfered with during the past three years, I gave the
undertaking that the policy adopted in such matters in the past
would not be departed from in the future.
7.
In my telegram of the 11th April I stated that the adoption of Compulsory Service would not increase the
numerical strength of the Volunteer Force, until a Chinese
Company of a strength of some 250 could be formed. It will be
seen that, in my remarks in Council on the first reading of
the
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