§ SIR BALDWYN LEIGHTONasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether any, and, if so, what, steps have been taken with a view to providing English infantry regiments or portions of such regiments with portable entrenching tools, such as have long been in use in the Austrian and Roumanian armies; and, if not, whether he can state the reason why such equipment is deemed unnecessary or undesirable?
§ MR. CHILDERSIn reply to the hon. Baronet, I have to state that this question has not been neglected. Two hundred and eighty-five Roumanian spades were issued last year to eight battalions for trial. The reports were generally satisfactory; the spade was well adapted for use in light soil, but not in heavy or hard soils. Seventy spades, of a pattern recommended by the School of Military Engineering, are now being tried in the same battalions. This spade is longer than the other, and has a different shaped head. A portable spade is included in the proposed equipment for the Infantry soldier, and the Roumanian spade can be so carried. Three thousand spades of this pattern have been sent to South Africa; but the 174 question as to the best portable entrenching tool is not yet settled.