§ MR. MACDONALDasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is true that the locks have all been taken off the rifles which are used by the Volunteers of the Merthyr district, county Glamorgan, South Wales; whether they 717 have been removed out of the county; whether the same thing was done during a dispute in respect to wages between the mine owners of the district and their employés in 1872 and 1873; and, whether he will state by whose orders these acts have been carried out, if done?
MR. GATHORNE HARDYSir, in reply to the first part of the Question of the hon. Member I have no information on the subject. I have endeavoured to obtain information; but I do not know whether such a thing has been done on this occasion or not. It certainly has not been done by any orders of the War Department, for no one in that Department knows anything about it. It appears that in February, 1873, during a strike in South Wales, directions were given by the War Department to the general officer commanding the district to have returned into store any arms or ammunition in the places named which were not in a secure place. The locks were to be taken of and the bayonets to be removed.
§ MR. MACDONALDsaid, he would renew the Question on Friday.