§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT,in rising to call attention to the jamming of the Gardner machine guns at the battles of Tamai and Abu Klea, and of the Martini-Henry rifles during the late campaign, said, that the information which had been received as to these matters showed that they were not satisfactory to the country or to the Army. Of course, it was possible that the failure of the Martini-Henry might be put down to the bad shooting of the soldiers; and there could be no doubt that the skill in firing of our men was not what it ought to be. That was probably due to the mistaken economy which was shown in the matter of rifle practice, for he knew he should be supported by the great majority of the skilled officers of the Army when he said that the number of rounds our soldiers were allowed to fire each year was not one-half what it ought to be. As had been stated by the Commander-in-Chief last year, shooting was greatly a question of expense. The number of rounds that soldiers were allowed to fire each year was not sufficient, and their lack of skill might therefore be traced to mistaken economy. That, however, was a general question well worthy the attention of the War Office; but they had definite statements with regard to the firing in recent battles. 1710 More than one correspondent had mentioned the jamming of the cartridges; and he would especially ask the attention of the noble Marquess who represented the War Office to the statement of the Special Correspondent of The Daily Telegraph. He was not going to say that they should accept the ipse dixit of the correspondent of a newspaper as absolute proof in a case of this kind; but the correspondent of The Daily Telegraph—he would by no means say the same of all the correspondents—was a gentleman of remarkable experience, of great judgment and accuracy. The name of Mr. Burleigh was well known; he had been through several campaigns, and they might fairly assume that nothing which he deliberately stated was to be altogether disregarded. This correspondent had written that the wild-ness of aim which enabled the attack of the Arabs to be successful was caused by the fact that hundreds of cartridges jammed after the second or third shot. It was a very serious matter, when a small body of men were sent on a difficult and dangerous march through the desert in the face of thousands of savage foes, that their principal arm of defence should be practically useless after the second or third shot. The correspondent went on to say that officers had informed him that this year their mongrel cartridges stuck worse than ever, and that at Abu Klea he had seen scores of weapons rendered temporarily useless. This statement was worthy the attention of the War Office. If it had not been for the sticking of the cartridges and for the jamming of the Gardner guns it was more than probable that the British square would never have been reached by the Arabs, and some 150 gallant soldiers who were killed would still have been alive, to say nothing of the brave officers who rallied the square. He had himself received confirmation of the correspondent's statement from several officers. Referring to the action of the Gardner gun, under Lord Charles Beresford, at the battle of Abu Klea, Mr. Burleigh stated that during the advance of the Arabs it had been fired occasionally and had performed good service. When, however, it was most wanted—when the Arab attack reached within 300 yards of our square—before three rounds had been fired the cartridges stuck, and the gun was rendered 1711 temporarily useless, an accident to which Lord Charles Beresford declared all machine guns were perpetually liable. The same thing occurred at the battle of Tamai last year. On that occasion one of our squares was broken, and the fate of the Army was imperilled; and he believed those who were on the spot attributed the misfortune mainly to the fact that the Gardner gun got jammed after the second or third firing. The fact that this jamming happened at two of the most critical periods deserved consideration. If these defects could not be remedied in the Gardner and Nordenfelt guns, it was time that the War Office adopted some other system of machine gun which would obviate these dangers. The jamming of these guns could not be due to inexperience or mismanagement, as possibly that of the Martini-Henry rifles might be, because they were under the charge of skilled men—the Naval Brigade and Lord Charles Beresford. The fault must have been either in the machinery of the gun or in the cartridges. This was a very serious matter, for it was above all things necessary that our soldiers should be provided with arms of the most approved and precise character to enable them to cope with their foe in the Soudan. He did not propose to proceed with the Motion for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into these facts which he had placed on the Paper, because he did not doubt that the War Office would be willing to look into the matter, and because he did not wish to stand in the way of the important Motion which stood next on the Paper.
§ MR. CARBUTTexpressed his gratification that this subject had been brought forward by the hon. Member. There was no doubt that machine guns would play a most important part in the wars of the future, and it was most important that they should adopt the best that could be devised. Machine guns were worked by a handle, and so long as that was turned the theory was that the gun would go on firing. But if some of the cartridges were not very well made, or were a little moist, they would not go off with the same speed as other cartridges, and so remained in the chamber until the next cartridge entered, and either remained in the chamber and exploded, or hung fire sufficiently long to be thrown on to the 1712 ground and there explode. Every machine gun yet introduced was liable to this hanging lire; but the Maxim gun, recently invented, was far less liable to this very serious inconvenience. It was an automatic gun, which utilized the recoil, and could fire 600 bullets per minute, and only required the attention of one man. It was an arm of the Service as to the importance of which he believed the Government to be fully alive. With our small Army we were becoming more and more dependent upon mechanical inventions, and there was no arm the Government ought to give more attention to. He, therefore, hoped they would put pressure on the manufacturers and send out a few of these guns to Egypt for the Autumn Campaign.
§ MR. BRANDsaid, he had the pleasure of informing the House that the Maxim gun had already been brought to the notice of the Department, and one was being built for trial. He found some difficulty in dealing with the speech of the hon. Member for Eye (Mr. Ash-mead-Bartlett), so far as the guns were concerned, because he had not given the House any authority for his statement.
§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTI quoted the statement of Mr. Burleigh, the correspondent of The Daily Telegraph.
§ MR. BRANDsaid, he was aware that the hon. Member had quoted a statement from the public Press; but he desired to have a stronger authority as to the facts. Since the Motion of the hon. Member had been placed on the Paper he had made inquiries as to this matter, and he found that neither at the Admiralty nor at the War Office had a Report been received to the effect that the Gardner gun had jammed. Indeed, the contrary was the case. A Report had been received by the Admiralty from their officer commanding at Tamasi, and his Report with regard to the action of the gun was highly satisfactory, no mention being made of the jamming of the gun in that action. He could not say anything with reference to what had taken place at Abu Klea, because no Reports had been received as to the Gardner guns in that action. If, however, the hon. Member would favour him with any other authority, besides the statement of The Daily Telegraph correspondent, he would be happy to make 1713 further inquiries on the point. As to the Martini-Henry rifles, the War Office had received a communication from the General Officer commanding at Korti that, in some cases, the cartridges for the Martini-Henry rifle got jammed at Abu Klea. He had only one remark to make with regard to the letter of The Daily Telegraph correspondent to which the hon. Member had referred. If he remembered rightly—quoting from memory—that correspondent stated that hundreds of cartridges got jammed; but in the next sentence he said that there was a "continuous roll of fire," so that the case could not have been so serious as represented in the quotation by the hon. Member. There was no doubt that the jamming took place to a certain extent. The present Martini-Henry cartridge was introduced by a Special Committee, over which Lieutenant Colonel Fletcher presided, in 1871, and it had undergone only slight modifications since then. It had been used since that year in several small campaigns, in not one of which had any complaint been made with respect to the working of the roll cartridge in the Martini-Henry rifles. He thought, therefore, it was reasonable to suppose, until detailed and written Reports were received from the front, that some very special and exceptional conditions affected the Martini-Henry cartridge at Abu Klea. For his own part, he could quite imagine that the sand of the Desert might have had a considerable effect in bringing about the jamming referred to. He could only say that the War Office was fully alive to the importance of this subject. Lord Wolseley had suggested a certain course of action, and his recommendations were now under the consideration of the professional advisers of the Secretary of State on this question. If his recommendations were considered by them to be feasible and desirable, he could assure the House that no time would be lost and no necessary expense would be spared in giving effect to them.