§ MR. J. ROWLANDS (Finsbury, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that a member of the 4th V.B. West Surrey Regiment, being in delicate health, was advised not to attend the Review; but, having a full knowledge of the dismissal of Colour Sergeant Sleap last year, he went to Brighton, with the result that he died the following week; a military funeral was then ordered or sanctioned by the Commanding Officer; but, although between 200 and 300 men paraded under arms, not a single commissioned officer put in an appearance; and whether this constituted an infringement of the Volunteer Act on the part of the commissioned officers?
§ * THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN,) Stirling, &c.The deceased member of the Volunteer corps was not known to be in delicate health, and his attendance at the Review was entirely voluntary. As an acknowledgment of the good service the deceased sergeant had rendered, 774 the Commanding Officer ordered a military funeral with a parade of the sergeants' company. The Captain of the company was unfortunately prevented from attending by the serious illness of a near relative; but the Commanding Officer was present, though, as it was only a company parade, he could not appear in uniform. There is no power to compel attendance on such an occasion.
§ MR. J. ROWLANDSIs it not a fact that when this sergeant asked to be relieved on the occasion of a special parade he was told that if the state of his health permitted him to attend to business engagements, it would not interfere with the performance of his military duties; and was it not his knowledge of the way in which Colour Sergeant Sleap was treated, and the threat that he must attend or send in his resignation, that induced him in his bad state of health to be present?
§ * MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI am not aware of the intricate details of this matter; but. I understand this sergeant was one of the first to intimate his willingness to attend the Easter Review, and I am unable to find any trace of compulsion.
§ MR. J. ROWLANDSIs it not a fact that a colour sergeant with 28 years' service had been dismissed from the corps previously because he declined to attend a Review on account of the state of his health?
§ * MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI see what the hon. Member thinks may have been the effect on the second sergeant named, but, as a matter of fact, he died of a complaint which was not at all connected with any state of health in which he may have been at the time of attending the Review.