HC Deb 10 May 1889 vol 335 cc1700-1
GENERAL SIR WILLIAM CROSSMAN (Portsmouth)

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether it is the case that, on the formation of a Volunteer European Artillery Corps at Singapore, certain conditions were virtually agreed to between the General Officer Commanding and the promoters of the Corps as regards the training of the men in working guns of the same nature as those mounted for the defence of the, place; whether it was understood that every facility would he given to the Volunteers to enable them to drill at some place near the town and not at the outlying forts, to which they would have to proceed by boat; whether, up to the beginning of April 1889, a 7-inch gun at Fort Fullerton, a place most conveniently situated for the Volunteers, had been used for drill purposes, and that this gun was mounted on a carriage and platform of the latest type supplied to the Colony borrowed from Fort Blankan Mati, on condition that they were returned to that fort at 72 hours' notice; whether the War Department has now peremptorily or- dered the immediate return of these gun mountings to Fort Blankan Mati, and have offered for the use of the Volunteers a gun at Fort Fullerton which has an obsolete mounting, or at all events one which requires an entirely different drill to that which is required for working the guns that are, or will be, mounted for the defence of the port; whether the difficulties of distance and time would prevent the Volunteers, nearly all of whom are men connected with business, from proceeding to the outer forts for drill so often or so regularly as would be desirable; and, whether, if the facts are as above stated, and considering the great exertions made, and the large sum of money spent by Singapore in providing for its own defence, the War Department will consider the advisability of giving immediate orders that a gun properly mounted at Fort Fullerton, as previously arranged, be placed at the disposal of the Volunteers for drill purposes?

*THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. E. STANHOPE,) Lincolnshire, Horncastle

Without entering into the past arrangements in connection with the practice of the Artillery Volunteers at Singapore, I will take such steps as may he necessary to secure that the wishes of the Volunteers shall be complied with as far as may be possible.