§ MR. J. O'CONNOR (Tipperary, S.) (for Dr. TANNER) (Cork Co., Mid) ,asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether a serious outbreak of pneumonia has taken place in the Bedfordshire Regiment stationed in Fermoy; if it is true that a considerable number of men are, and have been, in hospital; if so, how many; has any case proved fatal,; is it a fact that the principal causes of the epidemic are stated by the medical authorities to be intemperance and exposure; and, whether it is true that the straw supplied for bedding and sanitary arrangements in the barracks promoted the disease?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)Probably, on account of the changeable weather, lung disease has been rather prevalent in the West of Ireland; and in the Weekly Return to the 20th of April from the Bedfordshire Regiment at Fermoy, it is shown that there had been 13 admissions for pneumonia and 895 one death. The sanitary state of the barracks is reported to be satisfactory; and no cause other than the weather has been assigned for the outbreak. Further inquiry has, however, been ordered.