§ MR. HUMEsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary for War if the Government contemplate the appointment of Presbyterian Military Chaplains in the chief garrison towns of the United Kingdom?
GENERAL PEELsaid, it was the intention of the Government to appoint additional Presbyterian and Roman Catholic Assistant Chaplains, in order to put the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian soldiers, in proportion to their numbers, on an equal footing in this respect with the rest of the army. They would be stationed wherever their services were most required, and of course they would be liable to be removed whenever the different distribution of the troops should render it necessary. At present, where there were no chaplains, the soldiers attended service at the place of worship of the denomination to which they belonged. Hitherto these services had been paid for on different scales, but for the future it was intended that they should all be paid for on the same footing. Before sitting down, he would answer a question put on Friday last by the hon. and gallant Member for Salisbury (General Buckley) in reference to a deficiency in the supply of water to the troops at Chatham, and to the overcrowding of the barracks there. He had just received a Report from the Commandant of Chatham, which stated:—
The troops, being supplied with water from the dockyard, have generally had abundance, although it has occasionally been considered necessary to be saving of it for a day or so, owing to the forcing machinery getting out of order—and this happened to be the case on Wednesday; in consequence of which I ordered that the cocks in the ablution rooms of the barracks should be watched and the water saved Morn waste, instead of being allowed to run all day at the discretion of the recruits. In the course of the day that inconvenience was remedied, and there is now plenty of water for everything. The garrison is very strong, but the accommodation was never more easy, none of the barrack rooms having their complement of men in them. A large number have been many weeks under canvas, and the troops are healthy.