HC Deb 28 April 1876 vol 228 cc1835-6
COLONEL KINGSCOTE

asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether, in view of the recent change in the regulations affecting the issue of forage allowance, whereby a mounted officer is compelled to be the bonâ fide owner of the horse for which forage is drawn, it is intended to afford mounted officers some assistance in meeting this new obligation, the present rate of forage allowance not being sufficient to provide food alone, without reference to the cost of the horse, saddlery, shoeing, wages and clothing of groom, and other incidental expenses?

MR. GATHORNE HARDY

The recent Order, Sir, has no connection with the question of the insufficiency of the forage allowance. It has always been the practice of the Service for officers to provide their own equipment and keep it efficient, and the horses of mounted officers have always been regarded as part of their equipment. The recent Order merely re-establishes what prior to 1869 has always been the rule—that officers should actually keep, instead of jobbing their horses, and imposes no new obligation on them. Government provides forage for such horses, or gives the officer an allowance for that purpose, and the question of the sufficiency of that allowance is under consideration.