COLONEL DUNNEsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, Whether there are any troops in China not included in the numbers in the Estimate or estimated for; and whether, if there be any Troops in China, those Troops receive the Indian Pay and Allowances; also whether they are paid out of the Treasury Chest, or if not, from what fund?
§ SIR HARRY VERNEYsaid, that in the Report of the Commissioners on the state of the army, in which military institutes and barracks were recommended, the opinion was given that the success of such 1131 institutions must depend upon the mode in which they were managed; any apathy on the part of the officers would be fatal. Out of barracks they did not recommend them unless under particular local circumstances. He should, therefore, be glad to hear whether any steps had been taken towards carrying out the recommendation of Captain Jackson at Aldershot. He and other hon. Members had understood that the item of £3,000 in the Estimates for the purchase of an iron house was intended for that purpose, and that an opportunity would thus he afforded of testing the success of a social home for soldiers there, than which he could conceive nothing more calculated to improve the moral character and to promote the sanitary state of the troops Such at least had been the effect at Gibraltar, where an institution of a similar nature had been established, to which 2,500 of the soldiers were subscribers, and the Governor, Sir W. Codrington, had borne testimony to the great improvement it had wrought in the moral character and health of the soldier. Any such arrangement as that which existed in the French army would not be tolerated in this country; and were it even suggested, every town and village in the kingdom would petition against it. The only argument that had been urged in its favour was its sanitary effect. He, however, believed that so far from preventing it promoted disease, and that there was a greater percentage of sickness where that system existed than elsewhere, to say nothing of the immorality to which it led.
§ MR. SCLATER-BOOTHsaid, that he had been in communication with many of the inhabitants of Aldershot, who were as anxious to see some means adopted by which the immorality which occurred there and in other large garrison towns among the soldiers might be greatly diminished; and having given a good deal of consideration to the detailed proposal of Captain Jackson, he would only say that he feared there would be considerable difficulty in assuming that the suggestion he made would meet the evils it was proposed to remedy. The success of these social homes depended not only upon management, but on local and other circumstances, and he would caution the Government against expecting too much from incurring any large expenditure in such an experiment. He had been informed by many of the residents of Alder-shot, and by the intelligent superintendent of police there, that the idle and dissolute 1132 soldier had but one object—namely, to escape from the control and discipline of the barracks, in order that he might indulge in his vicious propensities; that class of men were not likely to avail themselves of such institutions. Indeed, it was doubtful whether any place would be resorted to by the soldiers which was situated within the barrack grounds, and he believed the officers' clubhouse at Alder-shot had failed from a similar disinclination on the part of officers to spend their leisure time within the camp.
SIR GEORGE LEWISsaid, he understood the hon. and gallant Officer the Member for Portarlington (Colonel Dunne) to refer in his question to the Estimate of the present year beginning on the 1st of April last. The latest returns which had been received from China were dated 1st of January, 1862. At that date there were 1,560 of all ranks of native troops in China. That number was not included in the Estimates for the current year, inasmuch as it was expected that the force would have returned to India. It was not, however, possible at present to make the change, and a body of native troops would still remain in China. With regard to Captain Jackson's Report, he could only say it had received careful consideration, and a Vote had been proposed in the Army Estimates by which it would be possible for the War Office to carry out its recommendation. The iron house to which reference had been made belonged to the War Office, and, no doubt, it was acquired with the intention of converting it into a soldiers' home; but since the Vote passed, it had been represented that its situation was inconvenient and ill-suited for its purpose, and it was in so conspicuous a part of the camp that the men would probably be deterred from going there. That was the explanation of the pause in making the final arrangement, but he was nevertheless inclined to carry into effect the recommendation.