asked the Secretary of State for War what proportion of the military forces of Germany and France are enlisted on a voluntary basis, and what are the numbers of those so enlisted?

The number serving in the German Colonial Army last year was about 2,400 and in the French Colonial Army about 55,000. There are a number of men serving in both armies who are called volunteers, who enlisted voluntarily for special periods for their own convenience as regards age or regiment, but these same men would in any case have become liable to serve under compulsion.