§ SIR ROBERT COLLIERasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether a statement which appeared in the Western Morning News is correct, to the effect that on the removal of the 40th Regiment from Plymouth to Aldershot the troops were kept on board Her Majesty's troop ship Simoon for three days, without bedding 511 or blankets, and were compelled to lie upon bare boards, without any covering; and whether they were kept without food from five p.m. on the 11th of November, when they left the ship, until they arrived at Aldershot at half past two the next day?
§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTONI have felt it my duty to make careful inquiry into this statement, and I hope I shall be able to convince the hon. Gentleman that the newspaper account of the matter has been characterized by great exaggeration. I find it to be true that the 40th Regiment did sail in the Simoon from Portsmouth on Saturday, the 9th ult.—and really I am inclined to believe that this was the most serious mistake that was made. Sunday is regarded as a dies non, and therefore on the arrival of a regiment at a port on a Sunday it is not allowed to land. I do not say where the blame is to fall; but I think it is to be regretted that, under these circumstances, the embarcation of a regiment for such a short passage should be allowed to take place on the Saturday, involving, as it clearly does, the unnecessary detention of the men on board ship. In consequence of the sailing of this regiment on the Saturday it was detained at Spithead during the whole of Sunday, and I believe this is what is to be most complained of. It so happened that on Monday, on account of the state of the tide, the men were unable to land in time to proceed to Aldershot that day, and therefore they were detained until Tuesday morning. It is stated that the men were kept for three days without bedding or blankets, and were compelled to lie on the bare boards. The explanation of this is very simple. In short passages the soldiers do not like to be supplied with blankets. If any are lost, the company losing them has to pay for them, and I am told that in one instance as heavy a charge as £15 was imposed upon the companies for lost blankets. So strong is the feeling among the soldiers on the subject, that on the occasion of the 13th Regiment being conveyed from Queenstown to Gibraltar last summer, although the surgeon was anxious they should take blankets, they one and all refused to do so. In this case, I believe, from the same motive, the men were unwilling to take the blankets. There were plenty of them, on board, and they might have been had if the men had desired them. Blankets were supplied to the women and children, and the men did 512 not have them because they did not wish for them. As to the men being compelled to lie on bare boards, the men are supplied with boards on an incline, and I am told that for short passages the men prefer to lie upon them wrapped in their great coats. The whole of the last part of the statement as to the men being kept without food is incorrect. The facts are that before the men went ashore on Tuesday morning they had tea for breakfast. The Quartermaster Sergeant declined a supply of biscuits because the men had plenty in their messes, and after the men had left the vessel a quantity of biscuits was found on board. They arrived at Aldershot between one o'clock and half past one, and they then found their dinners ready for them.