§ MR. HARRY FOSTER (Suffolk, Lowestoft)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that the rifle butts used by the Volunteer Rifles, the Volunteer Artillery, and by the crews of Her Majesty's gunboat at Lowestoft were washed away during the recent gale; and that this is the second time the same occurrence has happened in the course of two years; whether it is a fact that the Colonel and the Adjutant of the Artillery Corps have made application to the War Office and to the Admiralty for the sum of £200, being the estimated cost of replacing the said butts; and whether, in view of the fact that the funds of the Artillery Corps are not able to bear the expense of reinstatement, and of the voluntary service rendered to the country by them, the War Office will defray the expense?
§ * MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANInformation has reached the War Office that the butt has been partly washed away and the range rendered useless by the gales in November. No application for £200, the estimated cost of repairs, can be traced as having been received at the War Office. In the absence of information as to the particulars of the 445 case, I am unable to answer the question in the third paragraph.