[BILL 134.] SECOND READING. (Hansard, 1 May 1882)

§ SIR WALTER R. BARTTELOT

said, he did not for a moment wish to oppose the second reading of this Bill, which, he believed, was uniform with other measures which had been introduced on the same subject; but they had a right to ask the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for War to make a statement to the House with regard to it, so that the country might know what troops were likely to be employed in the manœuvres. They had a right to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether the Army Corps that was to be kept in a state of preparedness for embarkation at a moment's notice was to be employed; and they had a right to know whether proper Generals—Generals who would command this Army Corps in case of any emergency—would be appointed to command. They had a right, also, to ask whether the Commissariat, Transport, and an organized Medical Department would be included in the manœuvres, in fact, whether they would have an Army Corps complete in every arm, and with all the appliances of war, so that, in case of necessity, they might know they were able to embark an Army Corps, thoroughly equipped, at a moment's notice? He laid special emphasis on "proper Generals," because he imagined that the men who ought to be employed were officers who had had every opportunity of manœuvring troops as they would have on an emergency. He would ask the right hon. Gentleman what were the troops who were to be employed in the Autumn Manœuvres, and whether the First Army Corps was to be included in the number?

§ MR. CHILDERS

I am glad the hon. and gallant Baronet has asked me the question, because, to a great extent, I am able to answer him at this moment. I say "to a great extent," because, of course, at the beginning of May it is impossible for me to say who will be the officers employed in the month of August to carry out the details of the operations. But I am able to say that it will be our endeavour to collect for the purposes of these manœuvres, not the whole of the First Army Corps, because a part of it is at the Curragh and elsewhere, but a sufficient force of the Regular troops, and also of the Militia and Volunteers, to show the country the progress that had been made, and the readiness with which a large body of men could take the field. The men will be under the command of officers such as would be called upon to lead in the event of actual war. The object of the War Office in restoring, after a lapse of some years, I will not say the annual practice, but what is known as the Autumn Manœuvres, is not merely for the purpose of show, but for utility, and to prepare both the Army and Auxiliary Forces for what they might be called upon to undergo in warfare. I thoroughly appreciate the object of the hon. and gallant Baronet, and cordially thank him for putting the question.