§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTON,who had given Notice of his intention to ask the Secretary of State for War a Question with reference to a Return as to Recruits, said, In asking the right hon. Gentleman the Question that stands in my name, I am anxious it should not be assumed that any suspicion exists in my mind that the right hon. Gentleman personally gave any instructions to those who made these Returns that any Return should be made other than what was strictly conformable to the truth. I beg to ask the Secretary of' State for War, Whether his attention has been drawn to a letter from Colonel Anson in the "Times" of the 24th instant, in 1414 which Colonel Anson states, with reference to a "Return of the age and chest-measurement of Recruits since July, 1870," presented to the House of Lords on the Motion of' the Duke of Richmond, that
when the forms sent down to the various regiments to be filled up from their records were sent back, the Returns in some cases disclosed the fact that a certain laxity existed somewhere, and that men had been enlisted under regulation measurement. Where this was found to be the case, the Returns were sent back from the War Office with orders to the commanding officers to transfer the men enlisted under the regulation measurement from a column in the Return noting that fact to a column which showed them to be over the regulation measurement, and in such altered form was the Return presented;and, whether this statement is true; and, if so, what explanation can be given of the orders so sent to commanding officers to alter the figures with which they had filled up the column for chest-measurement in the Return?
§ MR. CARDWELLSir, when I saw the letter in The Times, I sent to the Adjutant General's Department for information upon the subject, and I am informed that the following are the circumstances of the case:—Under the Queen's Regulations the Commanding Officer of the regiment is bound to ascertain the chest-measurement of every recruit he passes, and no recruit is accepted who is below the regulation measurement without the special permission of His Royal Highness the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief. When the Duke of Richmond's Return was moved for, it appeared that in some regiments recruits had been accepted, without any application for that special permission, who were below the regulation measurement. When this became known at the Horse Guards, the following Memorandum was issued:—
§ "Horse Guards, War Office,
§ "April 16, 1873.
§ "His Royal Highness the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief directs that the accompanying Return be amended in the following way—viz., all the men shown therein as under 33 inches chest-measurement to whom no objection was raised by you or by the Officer commanding at the time being, on their being finally passed into the service, must be accounted for as of the regulated chest-measurement of 33 inches.
§ "C. A. EDWARDS."
§ It cannot be disputed that this was a grave error. The matter in question was the preparation of a Parliamentary Re- 1415 turn, and the actual fact alone ought to have been looked to. Directions have been given which will prevent a recurrence, and for the amendment of the Return.
§ Afterwards—
§ COLONEL STUART KNOXsaid, with reference to the answer of the Secretary of State for War just given on this subject, he would ask, Whether, if an Officer connected with the War Office directed that false Returns should be sent in, he was merely to be told not to do so again?
§ MR. CARDWELL; Sir, that is a Question which the hon. and gallant Member had better put upon the Paper, if he wishes to ask it. I have already stated how this error—and it is a grave error—occurred, and that steps have been taken to prevent its recurrence.