§ MR. COOPEasked the Secretary of State for War, If he is aware of the great inconvenience that arises from the crowds of spectators in the parks of the Metropolis on the occasion of the drills or inspections of the Volunteers, making practice in battalion drill, and especially in the new formation for attack, almost impossible; and, whether he is prepared to adopt such measures, by mounted police or otherwise, as may check this evil, and enable the Volunteer Forces to carry out satisfactorily the drills required of them?
MR. GATHORNE HARDYI must inform my hon. Friend that the Parks are under the jurisdiction in certain cases of the Rangers, and in the others of the Office of the Board of Works:—the Secretary of State for War has no jurisdiction over them. But in consequence of similar complaints to those to which my hon. Friend has referred, I applied to the Home Office in 1875, and they undertook that a mounted Police Inspector and eight policemen should attend when the Volunteers were going through their summer drill. I believe that can now be done if notice be properly given.