§ MR. SCLATER-BOOTH (Hants, Basingstoke)said, he rose to call attention to the management of regimental canteens. A very strong feeling had arisen against what was regarded as an unfair system of exclusive trading. The officers who managed the canteens obtained their supplies from the Army and Navy Stores; and, as they were presumably shareholders in those stores, there was reasonable irritation on the part of local traders, who otherwise might supply the canteens. It was desirable that the conduct and motives of the officers who managed the canteens should be above suspicion, particularly as the soldiers were, if not obliged, yet induced by circumstances which amounted almost to pressure, to spend their money at the canteens. He hoped the subject would receive attention during the Recess.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN)&c.) (Stirling,said, his attention had been drawn to this subject by the right hon. Gentleman and also by some other Members 1507 of the House; and he had found in the War Office a somewhat lengthy correspondence between the right hon. Gentleman and the late Secretary of State for War. The military canteens were maintained by the troops themselves, who, he believed, upon the whole were very well content with the way in which they were managed. The right hon. Gentleman had brought forward a side of the question which injuriously affected his constituents in Aldershot, and against which it was alleged the soldiers sometimes protested. It was that, instead of being allowed to deal with the local traders, the canteens obtained their goods from co-operative societies and other such establishments. He was himself entirely in favour of the system of open tender as far as it could be employed; but a canteen was under the control of a canteen committee, who were practically independent of the authorities. He did not wish to dissociate himself from responsibility in the matter, or to throw responsibility upon others; neither did he desire to interfere more than was absolutely necessary with the discretion of the canteen committees. At the same time, he had every disposition to see that the whole system was managed in such a way as not only to avoid abuse, but also to give satisfaction and contentment to the soldiers who dealt with the canteens.
§ MR. CRILLY (Mayo, N.)protested, in the name of some Irish traders in garrison towns in Ireland, against the system of procuring supplies for the military from English firms.