§ MR. WILLIAM LOWTHER (Westmoreland, Appleby)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether it is true, as lately stated in a public journal, that six officers and six non-commissioned officers of the 24th regiment stationed at the Richmond Barracks, Dublin, were down with typhoid fever; whether one of the non-commissioned officers had died; whether there is any intention on the part of the War Office to cause the whole of the Richmond Barracks to be overhauled; and, whether any endeavour will be made to have the drains put to rights at those barracks?
§ * MR. E. STANHOPEI am sorry to say that three officers and three privates of the 1st Battalion South Wales Borderers have been attacked with enteric fever at the Richmond Barracks since the 1st January last, and that one case —that of Private Jones—was fatal. Mr. Rogers Field is now making a careful inspection of all the sanitary arrangements of the barracks, including the drainage, and I am awaiting his Report. I understand that he has discovered certain defects in the drainage, which have been immediately remedied. But there is also a necessity for considerable improvement in the subsoil drainage of these barracks. But, whatever defects may be discovered, I am prepared to do anything that may be found necessary to put these barracks into a proper condition. There is much evidence to show that the illness in these 307 and other barracks has been largely due to the sanitary condition of the Guard Rooms outside, and this is confirmed by the fact of its being specially prevalent among subalterns. Early this year my attention was called to this matter, and I have pressed those responsible for them, who are not the Military Authorities, to put them in a proper condition, and this is being made.