§ (4.) £1,330,000, Manufacture and Repair of Warlike and other Stores, agreed to.
§ (5.) £853,300, Superintending Establishment of, and Expenditure for, Works, Buildings, and Repairs, &c., agreed to.
§
(6.) Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a sum, not exceeding £166,800, "be granted to Her Majesty, to defray the Charge for Establishments for Military Education, which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1880.
§ MAJOR O'BEIRNEsaid, that by the Return published this year the number of Catholic boys in the Royal Hibernian Military School was 169, and the number of Protestant boys 196. He complained that nearly all the staff of the College were Protestants, only five out of the 29posts in the establishment being hold by Catholics, while out of the 25 monitors only six were Catholics. In the minor posts, however, like those of servants, the Catholics were fairly proportioned; but the offices of commandant and secretary had always been held by Protestants. He wanted some assurance that this system should be changed, and begged, therefore, to move the reduction of the Vote by the sum of £9,460.
§
Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a sum, not exceeding £156,340, be granted to Her Majesty, to defray the Charge for Establishments for Military Education, which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1880."—(Major O'Beirne.)
§ COLONEL STANLEYhad had great difficulty in hearing the remarks of the hon. and gallant Member. He gathered that he referred to the disproportion which, in his opinion, existed between the Protestant and Roman Catholic officers in the establishment; and, he believed, he also referred to something in the nature of a promise as to the proportion which should exist. He confessed that, until the hon. and gallant Member had said so, he -was not aware that any such promise had been given. Nothing would be deprecated by him more than that a hard-and-fast line should be laid down by marking religious distinction in the Military Service. He understood that all formed a portion of one Service, and that there was no line of demarcation between Protestants and Catholics; and that in these matters they had to consider what was beneficial to the Service generally. If the hon. and gallant Gentleman could point out to him any case in which the education of the boys had directly suffered by the appointment of officers of different denominations, such a case should undoubtedly receive his most earnest attention. He was not aware that any ground of complaint existed of the kind referred to. He hoped the hon. and gallant Gentleman would not press his Motion.
§ COLONEL COLTHURSTsaid, that previous to 1872 there was much reason to be dissatisfied, both with regard to the number of Roman Catholic boys who were admitted to the Royal Hibernian School and the way in which the duties devolving on the Governors of the school were discharged. In consequence, however, of a statement which had been made in that House by the late Member for Longford on the subject, he was bound to acknowledge that the state of things in the school had been very much improved since that time. The objectionable rule which limited the admission of Roman Catholic boys to the number of one-third of the pupils had been abrogated, and a new Board of Governors had been appointed who did not even know to what religion the applicants for admission to the school belonged. But as regarded the officials of the school there still remained just ground for the complaint that they were not selected in due proportion from members of the Roman Catholic faith. He should not wish to ask that any of the present officials should be dismissed; but seeing that in the course of the natural working of the present system three-fourths of the boys in the school would be Roman Catholics, he did not think it was right that all the good appointments connected with it should be in the hands of Protestants; and he, therefore, hoped that as vacancies occurred among the superior officers the Government would take into their consideration the desirability of giving Roman Catholics a preference in filling up those vacancies, if only the applicants were competent to the performance of the duties which they would have to discharge. It appeared to him, also, that the position of the Roman Catholic chaplain of the school was unsatisfactory, inasmuch as he was not allowed the same salary, and had not the same official standing as the Protestant chaplain. But while he thought there were defects in the present system which called for a remedy, he hoped his hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Leitrim (Major O'Beirne) would not think it necessary to press his Amendment to a Division, seeing that the affairs of the school were now better administered than used to be the case.
§ MR. CALLANdrew attention to the management of the Royal Military Asy- 455 lum and Normal School, and urged upon the Government the propriety of increasing the salary of the Roman Catholic chaplain connected with it, who only received at present £38 a-year, although more than one-sixth of the boys belonged to the Roman Catholic religion.
§ COLONEL STANLEYsaid, he would inquire into the matter, but that no do-finite complaints on the subject had, up to the present moment, been brought to his notice.
§ MR. PARNELLsaid, the Royal Hibernian Military School was formerly very exclusive in the sense that the advantages which it conferred were confined almost entirely to Protestant children. It had, however, of late years been open, to a certain extent, to Roman Catholics. He found by a Return which he held in his hand that the number of children now in the school was 398, and that of that number 198 were Protestants, 169 Roman Catholics, and 31 Presbyterians and members of other religious denominations. He also found that the right of admission to the school was reserved to a Committee of the Governing Body, which consisted of 13 Protestants, four Roman Catholics, and one Presbyterian. Now, it seemed to him somewhat extraordinary that, seeing the proportion of Irishmen in the Army was 10 Roman Catholics to one Protestant, there should be so many more Protestants than Roman Catholics in the Governing Body of a school to which Roman Catholic children were eligible. The Irish soldiers being almost entirely Roman Catholics, how, he should like to know, had it come to pass that such an unwise selection had been made of the Governors of the school? Everyone who knew Ireland was well aware that it was perfectly impossible that the religion of a candidate for any office in that country should remain unknown. It was the first thing into which inquiry was made; and, of course, the religion of the parents of those boys who presented themselves for admission into the Royal Hibernian School was well known to the Committee of Governors before their claims were considered. He did not mean to say that the question of religion was discussed, or that it was openly made the ground on which an application was granted or refused; but that it secretly had an effect upon the 456 decision which was arrived at he had no doubt. Indeed, the question of religion entered into every form of election in Ireland, including even the election of Poor Law Guardians; and it was utterly impossible to believe that, constituted as the Governing Body of the Royal Hibernian School was, their selection of candidates for admission to it could be altogether unbiassed.
§ COLONEL STANLEYsaid, that if the hon. Gentleman who just sat down had been in the House when the hon. and gallant Member for Cork (Colonel Colthurst) had addressed the Committee, he would find that the criticisms in which he had indulged had been by anticipation completely answered, for that hon. and gallant Member had stated that whatever might have been the grounds of complaint formerly as to the admission of Roman Catholic boys to the Hibernian School there were now no reasons for supposing that the election of candidates was not conducted upon a principle which was entirely fair.
§ COLONEL COLTHURSTsaid, the hon. Member for Meath might take his word for it that since 1872, when a new Board of Governors was established, no partiality was shown to candidates on the score of religion, although he was ready to admit that great cause for dissatisfaction previously existed. At present, there was nothing like unfairness in the action of the Governing Body towards Roman Catholics as compared with members of the Protestant religion.
§ MR. A. MOOREcould not help thinking that it would be satisfactory if the answer to the criticisms of the hon. Member for Meath (Mr. Parnell) came from the Treasury Bench instead of being given by the hon. and gallant Member for Cork (Colonel Colthurst). There had been no reply made on the part of the Government to the allegation that the Roman Catholics had not their fair share of power and authority in connection with the Institution in question, and he should feel it to be his duty to move that the Chairman do report Progress unless a thorough and impartial inquiry into the subject were promised.
§ MAJOR O'BEIRNEpointed out that the hon. and gallant Member for Cork (Colonel Colthurst) and himself were quite in accord as to the undue proportion of Protestants as compared with 457 Roman Catholics on the staff of the School. Out of 29 on that staff, five only were Roman Catholics, which was not a fair proportion, he maintained, inasmuch as the relative proportion of the boys in the School was 198 Protestants to 168 Roman Catholics. Seeing that the staff was composed almost entirely of Protestants, he did not think what had been said by the hon. and gallant Member for Cork about the School was calculated to convey to the Committee an accurate idea of the real state of affairs.
§ COLONEL COLTHURSTreplied, that he bad said nothing about the teaching staff of the School, which, he admitted, required alteration.
§ COLONEL STANLEYsaid, he was not aware that there were any complaints with regard to the management of the School until that evening. If any promise had been made on behalf of the Government, he should, of course, consider himself bound by it, and any complaints which were laid before him would be inquired into; but he could not undertake, without good cause shown, to dismiss particular officials in order to replace them by others.
§ MR. PARNELLsaid, that if the hon. and gallant Member for Cork (Colonel Colthurst) was satisfied that there was no unfairness in the proportion between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant boys in the School, he, too, ought to be satisfied. The whole case seemed to show how extremely moderate the demands of the Roman Catholics were, seeing that, in a Roman Catholic country, in which the vast majority of the soldiers, and, consequently, of soldiers' orphans, were Roman Catholics, they were satisfied that in an Institution like the Royal Hibernian Academy half the children admitted should be Protestants, and only half members of their own religion. The fact was, however, that the Roman Catholics of Ireland had always shown great moderation in their demands. Had he been a Roman Catholic he did not think he would have been quite so moderate.
§ Question put.
§ The Committee divided:—Ayes 17; Noes 114: Majority 97.—(Div. List, No. 213.)
§ Original Question put, and agreed to.
458
§
(7.) Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a sum, not exceeding £232,700, be granted to Her Majesty, to defray the Charge for the Administration of the Army, which will come in course of payment during the year ending the 31st day of March 1880.
§ LORD ELCHOsaid, the amount appeared to be a very large one for the performance of the duties of the War Office. He found that there were now 505 clerks employed in connection with the Office, and 64 military clerks; and he should like to know from his right hon. and gallant Friend the Secretary of State for War whether any steps were being taken to employ a greater number of the latter class of clerks? He (Lord Elcho) was a Member of a Committee which sat three Sessions ago, who recommended that, whenever it was possible, military clerks should be employed in the Office, which was, he believed, the only military Department of the kind in any State in Europe in which the work was done almost entirely by civilians, for the Committee had laid before them the evidence of Prussian and French military men to show that in those countries those who had been in the Army were largely engaged in the capacity of clerks in the Administrative Departments. He did not, however, on the present occasion, propose to enter further into the question beyond asking what steps had been taken to increase the number of military clerks in the War Office? He wished also to say that he had intended to move a reduction in Vote 13—that for the manufacture and repair of warlike stores—although, at that late hour of the night, he should not, of course, have pressed his Motion to a Division. The Vote, however, had been passed without his knowing that it had been put from the Chair, and as the question which he desired to raise was a somewhat technical one he would not enter into it upon the present occasion. But he wished to give Notice that, as, in his opinion, his noble Friend the Surveyor General of Ordnance (Lord Eustace Cecil), who was responsible for the manufacture of the arms served out to the Army, was making a great mistake as to the weapon thus supplied—was, to use a familiar illustration, buying small beer for the price for which he might get good ale—and that it 459 would greatly add to the efficiency of the Army if the weapon now in use were given up—he would, if the Vote were brought forward in its present form next year, and that he had the honour of a seat in that House, move, not the reduction of the Vote, but the omission from the Estimates of the sum of £1,500, which was, he believed, the amount of his noble Friend's salary.
§ MR. E. JENKINSsaid, he did not propose that evening to raise so important a question as that which was involved in a Motion for the reduction of the salary of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, because it appeared to him that it would be somewhat of an impertinence to do so without previous Notice. He wished, however, to give Notice that early next Session he would raise the whole question of the organization of the Ordnance Staff, with special reference to the manner in which the Office of Commander-in-Chief was conducted in this country. He knew that there was great dissatisfaction among the officers of the Army in connection with the subject; and while he was desirous of abstaining from any invidious reflection of any sort on the present Royal tenant of that Office, whose bravery and zealous discharge of his duties demanded the respect not only of that House, but of the whole country, still, he thought the efficiency of the Army required that the attention of Parliament should first be directed to that particular spot in its administration. He begged now to move the reduction of the Vote by the sum of £4,000, not because he wished seriously to raise the question on the present occasion, but in order to inform the House that it was his intention to bring it forward for thorough discussion next Session.
§
Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a sum, not exceeding £228,700, be granted to Her Majesty, to defray the Charge for the Administration of the Army, which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1880."—(Mr. Edward Jenkins.)
§ COLONEL STANLEYsaid, that, although some addition had been made to the number of military clerks employed in the War Office, that fact must not be regarded as implying the slightest derogation of the manner in which the civilian clerks had performed the duties which they had to discharge. He had, 460 he might add, laid down a rule that in certain cases the duties to be fulfilled should be intrusted only to men who had served in the Army; but he was afraid that scarcely as much could be done in that direction as his noble Friend the Member for Haddingtonshire (Lord Elcho) desired. His noble Friend would excuse him if he did not at that hour of the night follow him in what he had said as to the manufacture of the rifles now served out to the Army; while, in reply to the hon. Member for Dundee (Mr. E. Jenkins), he would point out that the question which he desired to raise, and to which he had called the attention of the House, was not one which could be conveniently dealt with on the present occasion. It was, however, he was prepared to admit, an important question; but he would now merely observe, with regard to it, that it was a great convenience that the occupant of the Office of Commander-in-Chief should be quite free to go about to inspect the Army, and that a Minister whoso time was fully occupied in that House would not be likely to have many spare hours for the purpose.
§ MR. CHAMBERLAINbegged to move pro formâ that the Chairman report Progress, so that he might put himself in Order in asking a question as to the course of Public Business. There was a rumour that the Government had changed their intention with regard to the Business which they proposed to take to-morrow and on Saturday; and he had been informed that they meant to take the Report of Supply, if the Committee got through Supply that night, at 9 o'clock to-morrow night, and the Irish University Bill on Saturday instead of the Public Works Loan Bill, which had been previously fixed for that day. He should like to know whether the rumour to which he referred was correct?
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Chairman do report Progress, and ask leave to sit again."—(Mr. Chamberlain.)
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, that if the Committee got through Supply that night, as he hoped they would, he proposed to take the Report of Supply at 9 o'clock to-morrow night; but no change had been made in the order of Business, which, as had 461 been stated, it was proposed to take on Saturday.
§ MR. DILLWYNasked when the Irish University Bill would be proceeded with?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUEROn Monday.
§ Motion, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Original Question put, and agreed to.
§
(8.) Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a sum, not exceeding £35,900, be granted to Her Majesty, to defray the Charge for Chelsea and Kilmainham Hospitals (In-Pensions), which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1880.
§ MR. CALLANsaid, that although he was not going to make a Motion for the reduction of the Vote, he wished to call the attention of the Committee to the smallness of the salary which was given to the Roman Catholic chaplain at Chelsea Hospital. That salary amounted to only £25 a-year, and he believed he was correct in stating that there was a greater number of Roman Catholics in Chelsea Hospital than of Protestants in the hospital at Kilmainham, where an allowance of £300 a-year was made to the chaplain. He should also like to point out that the Roman Catholic pensioners at Chelsea Hospital, who were old and infirm men, were obliged to trudge, no matter how severe the weather might be, a long way from the hospital to the Roman Catholic church which they attended; and a room, he contended, ought to be set apart in the hospital for Roman Catholic service, so that they might no longer be subjected to so great an inconvenience. He hoped, under these circumstances, the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Secretary of State for War would give the Committee an assurance that the matter would be inquired into during the autumn, and that, if the facts were as he had stated, a remedy for the present state of things would be provided.
§ COLONEL STANLEYsaid, he certainly would have the matter inquired into, and expressed a wish to know whether the hon. Gentleman, in the remarks which he had made, spoke from his own personal knowledge?
§ MR. CALLANsaid, that he happened to have entered into conversation with one of the Roman Catholic pensioners of Chelsea Hospital, who, on learning that he, too, was a Roman Catholic, had opened his mind freely to him, and had made statements to him which subsequent inquiry tended to corroborate.
§ COLONEL STANLEYsaid, he would take care to find out exactly how the matter stood.
§ MR. BIGGARcould not regard the answer of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman as being at all satisfactory. The salary of the Roman Catholic chaplain ought, he thought, to be at once increased.
THE CHAIRMANinquired if the hon. Member for Cavan moved to reduce the Vote, or an item in the Vote?
§ MR. BIGGARsaid, that he moved to reduce the item for the chaplain at Chelsea Hospital by the sum of £200.
§
Motion made, and Question proposed,
That the Item of £400, for the Salary of the Chaplain of Chelsea Hospital, be reduced by £200."—(Mr. Biggar.)
§ MR. CALLANsaid, that it was a gratifying fact that no such Motion had been made in the House for a number of years, and he trusted that his hon. Friend would not proceed with his Motion. It was the first time that the attention of the authorities had been drawn to this matter. The salary of the Roman Catholic chaplain had only been paid for a few years, and it was the first time the Vote had been discussed, and that attention had been drawn to the discrepancy between the salaries of the Roman Catholic and the Protestant chaplains. After the assurance that the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Secretary of State for War had given upon the subject, he did not think that they ought to say anything more respecting it. If nothing were done in the matter during the ensuing year, it could be brought forward next Session. He would appeal to the hon. Member for Cavan not to press his Motion.
§ MR. BIGGARdid not think that the reply of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Secretary of State for War was so satisfactory that he should be justified in withdrawing his Motion. He wished to raise a protest against the discrepancy between the salaries of the Protestant and Roman Catholic chaplains.
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEbegged to point out to the hon. Member for Cavan that it would be in accordance with the feelings of the Committee if lie would withdraw his Motion. There were many hon. Members in that part of the House who agreed with him that the Protestant and Catholic ministers ought to be placed upon the same footing, and that there should be no distinction drawn in any respect; if they paid salaries to ministers at all, then both salaries should be alike. The hon. Member moved to reduce the salary of the chaplain at Chelsea; but he thought that that would be an unfair course to take. If the hon. Member pressed his Motion he should certainly vote against it.
§ MR. BIGGARdid not see why, if they could not level up, they should not level down.
§ COLONEL STANLEYthought it would be better that they should take a Division upon the matter. He was not prepared to admit that there was any injustice existing. There certainly was a great discrepancy in the salaries, no doubt; but he was not prepared to admit that it was an injustice. He did not know how long the chaplain at Chelsea had held his appointment, nor what were the reasons for giving him the salary which he received. The hon. Gentleman (Mr. Biggar) could scarcely wish him to reduce the salary until he had inquired into the subject; and he certainly thought that it would be unfair to reduce the salary of the present holder of the office. But as attention had been drawn to the subject it should be inquired into.
§ MR. CALLANsaid, that after the misleading and unsatisfactory explanation by the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Secretary of State for War he should be compelled to vote, unwillingly, with the hon. Member for Cavan. It would be better that a clear understanding should be arrived at before they proceeded to vote. He was acquainted with the facts as to Kilmainham Hospital, and was prepared to substantiate the accuracy of what he had stated. There was a Protestant chaplain at that Hospital belonging to the late State Church, who was paid £300 a-year to attend to the religious wants of the Protestant pensioners at Kilmainham; but a much larger sum was paid to that functionary than was paid to the Catholic chaplain attached to Chelsea, who had to attend 464 to a much larger number of pensioners. At present, the Catholic chaplain at Chelsea was not paid one-tenth of what the Protestant chaplain at Kilmainham was paid, for attending a very much smaller number of pensioners. He did not think the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Secretary of State for War could maintain that there was no injustice in paying the Protestant chaplain at Kilmainham £300, and, at the same time, paying the Roman Catholic chaplain at Chelsea £25, for attending a less number of pensioners. He thought that was an injustice that should not be tolerated, and he considered that they ought to have an assurance from the Government that it should be rectified.
§ COLONEL STANLEYdid not say that there was no injustice; he simply said that he was not prepared to admit that there was any. There was a discrepancy between the salaries; but there might be a reason for it. His noble Friend who had preceded him in the Office which he had the honour to hold had directed that no appointment should be made by the Governor of Chelsea Hospital until the War Office had had an opportunity of considering what salary should be paid to the chaplain in future. He did not think that it would be fair to reduce the salary of the present holder of the chaplaincy at Chelsea Hospital. But whether there would be a case for reduction on a new appointment he was not prepared to say. With respect to the pay of the Roman Catholic chaplain, if there was any reason for increasing it, it should be done, and if there was a difficulty in the Roman Catholics at Chelsea obtaining the ministrations of their own religion he would see what could be done.
§ MR. CALLANsaid, that with reference to Kilmainham Hospital, to satisfy the right hon. and gallant Gentleman, he might state that the Protestant chaplain received the same salary as the Catholic chaplain for doing one-third of the work. That might satisfy him that no injustice was done to the Protestant chaplain at Kilmainham. He was not complaining of the salary paid to the present chaplain there, for he was in favour of levelling up instead of levelling down. The exact number of pensioners at Kilmainham, he believed, was 200, of whom about 130 were Roman Catholics. The nearest Roman Catholic Church to Kil- 465 mainham was upwards of a mile and a-half distant from the Hospital, and Roman Catholic pensioners were obliged to walk that distance to attend the services of their religion. He would ask if the Government were prepared to allow the Roman Catholics at Kilmainham, who were in the majority, some accommodation for attending the services of their religion, instead of having to go a mile and a-half? He did not think that the lion. Member for Cavan would be justified in withdrawing his Amendment, unless some satisfactory assurance were given on the part of the Government.
§ COLONEL STANLEYsaid, that his noble Friend who had preceded him had given an assurance that an endeavour should be made to find a room in the barracks for the services of the Roman Catholic Church at Kilmainham. His impression was that that had been done. If the hon. Member for Dundalk would put a Question down on the Paper on this subject he would endeavour to answer it. The hospital at Kilmainham held from 200 to 240 pensioners.
§ MR. PARNELLdid not understand whether the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Secretary of State for War intended to abolish the chaplaincies at Chelsea and Kilmainham. If that were so, it would be fair that he should not appoint Roman Catholic chaplains. But if he did not intend to abolish the Protestant chaplaincies at Kilmainham and Chelsea, thou he ought to appoint regular chaplains for the Roman Catholics. The Government declined to give any official recognition to any but the Protestant chaplains, and only gave what they called an allowance to the Roman Catholic clergymen. Unless there was a regular chaplain appointed for Roman Catholics at Kilmainham, where they were a majority of the pensioners, he did not see that there was any right to retain Protestant chaplains either for Kilmainham or Chelsea. He hoped the right hon. and gallant Gentleman would give a plain answer as to whether he intended to abolish the chaplaincies at Kilmainham and Chelsea; and if he did not, whether he would establish a regular Roman Catholic chaplain for Kil-rnainham, where the majority of the pensioners were Roman Catholics?
§ MR. MELDONsaid, that if the Amendment of the hon. Member for Cavan were pressed he could not vote 466 for it. In his opinion, the assurance of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Secretary of State for War was very satisfactory. They had not the facts of the case before them; they did not know whether the ecclesiastical authorities would consent to the appointment of a Roman Catholic chaplain. There was an impression that a place had been provided for the Roman Catholic services at Kilmainham Hospital; and he thought that it was very unsatisfactory that they should be called upon to vote upon the question without a full knowledge of the circumstances. It was exceedingly unsatisfactory for the hon. Member for Cavan to take up the Estimates, and finding a discrepancy to take up the time of the Committee in discussing the matter. It should be ascertained, first, whether, if the chaplain were appointed, the ecclesiastical authorities would be willing that he should accept the office; and, consequently, they ought to know whether the Government had had any representations made to them from the person whose cause was taken up by the hon. Member. It was unpleasant to be called upon to vote until the facts were fully before the House. Although he should like to see a Roman Catholic chaplain appointed, he could not vote for the Amendment.
§ MR. CALLANsaid, that if the hon. and learned Member for Kildare (Mr. Meldon) had been listening to the course of the debate, and not indulging in conversation, as he was at present, he would never have made the observations he had done. When he brought forward this question he did not consult either the Roman Catholic Bishops or the priests. He did not consider it his duty to do so, for he had not brought forward the question in the interests of the Bishops or the clergymen, but solely on behalf of the pensioners. He regretted to say that the Roman Catholic chaplains appointed under the present system were so appointed under the patronage of the English Bishop, and he did not think that that was right. He had brought forward the Motion on the request of eight or nine pensioners, who objected to having to go a mile and a-half to church to attend the ministrations of their religion, when the other pensioners were accommodated in the Hospital. The hon. and learned Member for Kildare might come forward as the champion 467 of the clergy and the Bishops; but he (Mr. Callan) had come forward solely as the champion of the pensioners. He thought that, as a practical injustice had been shown, it should be inquired into, and, if found to exist, should be rectified.
§ MR. BIGGAR, before asking leave to withdraw his Amendment, wished to make a short explanation. What he understood to be the promise of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Secretary of State for War was, that he would inquire into the grievance, and that he would see justice done. Upon that understanding, he begged to withdraw his Motion.
§ Motion, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Original Question put, and agreed to.