(c) crown copyright
Catalogue Reference:CAB/24/127
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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
Printed for the Cabinet:
August 1921.
SECRET.
C P . 3259.
THE CABINET.
REDUCTION
OF T H E INFANTRY OF T H E T E R R I T O R I A L
MEMORANDUM
FORCE.
B Y T H E SECRETARY O F STATE F O R T H E COLONIES.
I DO not accept t h e description of my views when at t h e W a r Office as set
forth by t h e Secretary of S t a t e for W a r in his Memorandum C P . 3231. I should
never have agreed t o t h e destruction of live and well-recruited battalions of t h e
Territorial Force for t h e sake of economies so exiguous compared to t h e total of
Army Votes.
Indeed, I consider t h e course pursued violates t h e undertaking
which I gave t h a t no live and well-recruited battalion of t h e old Territorial or
Volunteer Forces should be extinguished.
I t is, of course, difficult for a Minister t o argue from t h e point of view of h i s
own constituency.
Neither has he t h e advantage of making a protest in t h e
House. I t r u s t , however, t h a t my colleagues will not be misled into supposing
t h a t I consider t h e m u t i l a t i o n of t h e Territorial Force and t h e injury to local
patriotism consequent thereupon is a right or necessary step.
A careful
examination of t h e Army Votes w i l l show where t h e money goes and where
large savings can alone be obtained.
The extraordinary growth of all t h e
administrative services, out of all proportion to t h e fighting troops, t h e maintenance
of staffs on a scale wholly unrelated to pre-war standards, t h e addition of an extra
company to every battalion, t h e retention of cavalry regiments and horse artillery
batteries at their present strength, are examples of t h e directions in which t h e
largest savings can be made now t h a t t h e W a r Office has been relieved of t h e
burden of Mesopotamia.
I t r u s t t h a t t h e Cabinet will have an opportunity in t h e a u t u m n of
considering army policy from a general a n d not merely from a financial point of
view. It has always been t h e practice in t h e past to consult t h e Cabinet on
changes in t h e s t r u c t u r e and system of t h e Army, and I a m certainly of opinion
t h a t this practice should not be abandoned in favour of purely departmental
decisions between t h e W a r Office and t h e Treasury.
w. s. c.
Colonial Office, August
[6834J
28, 1921.