SUPPLY.—REPORT. (Hansard, 16 June 1886)

SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL&c.) (Kirkcaldy,
said, he had given his hon. Friend the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs Notice that he should propose the reduction of this Vote, on the ground that the House ought to be informed what Sir H. Drummond Wolff and Mukhtar Pasha were doing in Egypt. Since he had sent the Notice, however, a Paper had been issued which gave some information, though not to a very recent date. It only carried the information as to what these gentlemen were doing down to the 22nd of February. 1633 There was also a despatch from Lord Rosebery dated the 14th of April. In face of the horrible accounts which had come to hand of the sickness and mortality among our troops in Egypt, it was most desirable that the House should know what the two Commissioners were about, whether they had come, or were likely to come, to any conclusion, or whether they were merely dribbling away their time without result. He admitted there was ground for sending Sir H. Drummond Wolff to Egypt, but he thought there had been ample time to arrange to reorganize the Egyptian Army. They now had what was very important—the official confirmation of Lord Rosebery that the British Exchequer was charged at the rate of upwards of £1,000,000 sterling per annum for the extraordinary expenses incurred in Egypt, and though he would not seriously object to the Vote being agreed to, he thought now that the House was about to be broken up, possibly till October, hon. Members were entitled to some more explicit information on the several points connected with the administration of Egypt than had yet been given. It was most important, too, that the constitution of the Egyptian Army should be settled as soon as possible; and there were several other questions on which it was highly desirable that Sir H. Drummond Wolff should report with as little delay as possible.

§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. BRYCE) (Aberdeen, S.)
said, it was only a quarter of an hour since he had received at the Foreign Office Notice of the question which his hon. Friend had just raised, and consequently he was hardly prepared to go fully into the numerous questions relating to the administration of Egypt. He did not think that the House would desire that the subject should be treated in an imperfect way, and without having the whole matter put fully and fairly before them. The questions raised were of great gravity and complexity. He desired to remind his hon. Friend that on Friday night the Secretary of State for War had answered some observations he had made on the same subject, but his hon. Friend was not in the House at the time to hear the answer. As regarded Army reorganization, he could 1634 assure his hon. Friend that the matter was making progress, and that a good deal of pains tad been bestowed by Sir H. Drummond Wolff and Mukhtar Pasha on the question. The Government could not, however, at present lay any further Papers before the House. It was impossible to do so while communications were constantly passing and while criticisms were being exchanged. He could assure the House that Her Majesty's Government were fully alive to the question, and would push it on with all the care which its importance demanded. As to the health of the troops, he was glad to be able to state that recent Reports from Sir H. Drummond Wolff showed that the mortality had been somewhat exaggerated. The health of the troops was certainly not all that could be desired, but still it was not so bad as had been supposed. With regard to the administration of justice, he could only repeat what he stated a few days ago—that the Government were going through the Papers on the subject with a view to ascertaining whether any of them could be immediately presented. There was no intention that the negotiations between Mukhtar Pasha and Sir H. Drummond Wolff should be indefinitely prolonged.

§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR (Donegal, E.)
said, he wished to call attention to the distinct injustice inflicted upon quartermasters of Militia with regard to their retirement as compared with those of the Regular Army, with whom they were supposed to be on the same footing.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN)&c.) (Stirling,
said, that the question of these quartermasters had come before him some time ago, and had been before other Secretaries of State for War, who had always given a decision contrary to the desires of the Militia quartermasters. If, however, the hon. Member would lay the details of the case before him he would look into it and carefully consider the matter.