§ MR. CALLANasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is a fact, as stated in "Reynolds' Newspaper,"—
That out of 90,000 officers and men 8,319 Courts Martial were held," that "the sum total of the Courts Martial and minor punishments number 139,753, or an average of an offence and a-half to every man in the service," and that "the Footguards offences outnumber those of the rest of the Army;and, if so, whether he will suggest to the Commander in Chief the desirability of marking his disapproval by removing the Footguards from London, and replacing them by some well-conducted Regiment of the Line?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONSir, if noncommissioned officers and men be substituted for officers and men in the second line of the Question, the figures quoted in its first paragraph are correct. As regards the second paragraph, the offences in the Foot Guards do not out-number or nearly approach those of the rest of the Army. The courts martial in the Foot Guards were only 57 per 1,000, against 94 per 1,000 for the rest of the Army at home; but with reference to minor punishments for trivial offences, the rate in the Foot Guards exceeded considerably that for the other corps. This is probably due to the different character of service in the Metropolis, which involves many temptations, to which other corps are not subjected.