§ MR. PARKER SMITH (Lanark, Partick)On behalf of my hon. Friend the Member for the Western Division of Edinburgh, I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he can state the reasons why permission has been refused for the formation of a corps of Volunteer Fortress Engineers in Edinburgh; and whether he is prepared to have the, question re-considered?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI can trace no such proposal for Edinburgh. Probably the noble Lord confuses Edinburgh with Leith. When, in 1888, it was sought to establish in Leith a Corps of Volunteer Engineers, great opposition was made by the officers commanding Volunteers Corps in the neighbourhood. I am now informed that that opposition is withdrawn; but the information did not reach me until it was too late to consider the question in connection with this year's Estimates.