§ SIR GEORGE MCCRAE (Edinburgh, E.)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether units of Royal Engineers (Volunteers) allotted to coast defences formerly received an annual allowance of practice small-arm ammunition, at the rate of ten rounds of ball cartridge, ten rounds blank cartridge, and twenty-five rounds aiming tube, per man; whether these allowances have been withdrawn from Territorial units of Royal Engineers allotted to coast defences, so that men belonging to these units who wish to practice shooting must now pay for all the ammunition they use; and whether these units are not supposed to be capable of defending themselves, or, if they are, when it is proposed that they should receive instruction in musketry, seeing that they would be the first troops mobilised in the event of threatened invasion and would be stationed at places where no facilities for practice exist.
§ (Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) The only Territorial Royal Engineers who are allowed ammunition are the field companies, which have an allowance of ninety rounds per man annually. As regards the other Royal Engineer units, it was considered that as the period of training was so short that their time was fully occupied with technical instruction, it was necessary to suspend the musketry, which was of secondary importance.