§ 24. Mr. PIRIEasked the Secretary for War whether he will state the cost for 1912 and give the details of figures connected with expenditure on the post of Inspector-General of Overseas Forces and Commander of Forces in the Mediterranean; does the latter title still exist, and what staff is attached to the post; and what journeys of inspection have been undertaken during the year by the general officer holding the post, and what was the cost of each journey, respectively?
§ Colonel SEELYThe cost for 1912 was approximately £7,000, of which £5,000 was for the Inspector-General and £2,000 for the staff. The title in question still exists. The staff consists of an assistant military secretary, an aide-de-camp, a staff officer to the Inspector-General, who is a brigadier-general, and a staff sergeant-major. Journeys were undertaken in the year in question to the Mediterranean, Singapore, Colombo, and Egypt, of which the first journey cost £300, and the remainder £920.
§ Colonel SEELYI am not quite sure. I was wondering that when I looked at the question.
§ Colonel SEELYIn any case, the money has been well spent.
§ Earl WINTERTONIs it necessary that the Inspector-General should travel by the "Mauretania" when going to the West Indies?
§ Colonel SEELYI think it is desirable he should travel in a British ship. But a question of this nature can hardly be dealt with in questions across the floor of the House. All I can say is that the inspections have been of very great value.
§ Mr. PIRIEMay I ask whether the inspection of the Legation Guard at Pekin could not be as efficiently carried out by a captain detailed from India as by an extravagantly expensive journey across Siberia by this general officer; if the inspection of the few troops at Singapore could not have been undertaken by a field 399 officer and of those at Khartoum by a brigadier-general from Malta, instead of by this officer, whose journey up the Nile coincided with the height of the fashionable season in Egypt, and whether the sums so paid could not have helped to increase the pay of the poorly paid subaltern officer?
§ Colonel SEELYNo, Sir, I do not think that the particular journeys to which my hon. Friend refers, could have been carried out so well by any other officer as this particular officer. His reports were, and will be, of exceptional value. With regard to future proposals for years to come, I have nothing to say now.
§ Mr. SPEAKERThese matters would well occupy our attention later on.