§ COLONEL ANNESLEYsaid, he wished to ask the Judge Advocate General for some information relative to the forms used for proceedings of Regimental Courts Martial?
§ MR. MOWBRAY, in reply, said, that the proceedings of regimental courts martial were not under the cognizance of the department of which he had the honour of being the head. Some time ago he offered a suggestion to the Horse Guards to the effect that the proceedings of courts martial would be much simplified by the adoption of printed regulations with reference to the manner in which the examination should be conducted. That printed form had been adopted in the case of general courts martial, but with respect to regimental courts martial he had received the following answer:—
The proceedings of regimental courts martial are kept in a particular kind of book, made with screw back; they are written on paper specially adapted for these books, and as they are carried about with the regiment it is of great consequence that they should occupy as little space as possible. If the printed forms were used the bulk of the documents would be considerably increased, and this increase would prove a great inconvenience in moving from one station to another. This is of little moment in the case of district or general courts martial, where the documents are kept permanently in an office; but in a regiment, which is constantly moving, it would prove highly inconvenient and expensive to increase the amount of baggage to be carried.He hoped the feeling of the House would be that this was one of those matters of minute regulation which might fairly be left to the judgment of the authorities at the Horse Guards.