§ MR. CALDWELL (Glasgow, St. Rollox)asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether the solid-drawn cartridges, the manufacture of which the Surveyor General of the Ordnance stated was begun by the Government in 1885, can be used in any of the existing rifles in the hands of our soldiers; whether, although firing a bullet of precisely the same calibre as that of the notoriously defective Boxer cartridge, these solid-drawn cartridges can only be used in the machine guns; and, whether this entails carrying into action two sorts of ammunition, which cannot be used interchangeably in the barrels of either weapon, Martini - Henry or machine gun?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)The solid-drawn cartridges now made can be used with all rifles at present in the hands of the troops. The machine guns now in use fire a special cartridge, and the result is that two sorts of ammunition have to be carried into action. When, however, the new small-bore rifle has been introduced the machine guns will be adapted to the same bore, and the cartridges for both will be identical.