§ SIR FREDERICK MILNERasked the Secretary of State for War, If he will state the result of his inquiries as to the punishments inflicted on British soldiers for drunkenness at Alexandria?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONI have not yet received the Report on the subject which I called for from the General Officer Commanding in Egypt; but the Judge Advocate General has supplied me with the following information:— 1745
From January 1 to June 30, 1884, 33 prisoners have been tried by district courts martial in Egypt for the offence of drunkenness. Of these district courts martial, one was held at Alexandria and eight at Ramleh, a suburb of Alexandria. It should be, however, noticed that in 22 cases out of the total of 33 the men were tried for other offences in addition to the crime of drunkenness. The punishments awarded have been, in the cases of non-commissioned officers, 'reduction' to an inferior grade or to the ranks, and in the cases of private soldiers have varied from one year's imprisonment with hard labour to 14 days' imprisonment with hard labour, in addition to fines. Of course, the heavier punishments were only awarded where the offence of drunkenness was aggravated by other and graver crimes.