CAPTAIN JERVISsaid, that on behalf of his hon. and gallant Friend (Colonel Knox) he wished to ask the Secretary of State for War, Whether the advertisement in The Times, in which the War Office asking for tenders for the repairs of barracks and militia stores was correct; and if it is the intention of the Government to take the militia stores and barracks out of the hands of the county magistrates, and relieve the counties from all future expense for repairs, &c.?
SIR GEORGE LEWISsaid, that the question was founded upon the apparent misapprehension—namely, that barracks and militia stores were, in respect to the law, in the same position. It was the duty of the county to provide stores for the militia, but it was not their duty to provide barracks. It was a decision of Lord Panmure that in consequence of its being merely a voluntary act on the part of counties to provide barracks for the militia, the expense of repairs should be borne by the War Department. The advertisement, accordingly, referred merely to the repairs of county barracks, and not to militia stores.