§ MR. P. J. O'BRIEN (Tipperary, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the paragraph in The Westminster Gazette of the 18th instant, as quoted from The Irish Catholic, in which it is stated that at the officers' mess at 1540 Aldershot of a regiment now quartered at the Camp, the toast of "The Queen and no Home Rule" was given a few nights since, and responded to by all the officers present; and, if so, having regard to the fact that the rank and file of the regiment in question is said to be largely composed of Irish Nationalists, the officers will be reprimanded for such conduct?
§ *MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANThe general officer commanding at Aldershot reports that the only regiment there which could come within the conditions implied by the question is the Leinster Regiment. The officer commanding that regiment reports that, so far as it is concerned, the report is without foundation. I must add that we have no knowledge whatever of the political opinions of soldiers in any regiment.