§ MR. R. W. HANBURY (Preston)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether samples of the water supplying the Camp at Aldershot, and particularly water taken from a tank supplying the Officers' Mess, Tournay Barracks, Marlborough Lines, have been on examination found contaminated with animal and vegetable matter; how many cases of enteric fever occurred during the last year at Aldershot; to what cause or causes have they been traced; and, 1432 what steps are being taken with regard to the drainage generally of the camp?
§ *MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANSamples of the water from the Bourley Reservoir, whence the Tournay Barracks were supplied, have been found to be contaminated. The supply was immediately cut off from the Camp and barracks; and all necessary steps are being taken to provide good water from the Aldershot Waterworks. During the year 1894 there occurred at Aldershot four cases of enteric fever among officers and seven amongst the men. Out of these 11 cases, four are stated to have been contracted outside Aldershot; one was in the person of an orderly who had nursed an enteric patient; in one case the milk supply was suspected; two were attributed to unsatisfactory sanitation, and the origin of the remaing three cases was considered doubtful. The reconstruction of the whole of the drainage of the camp is in hand, and considerable progress has been made with it—Stanhope Lines are completed, Marlborough Lines will shortly be so, and Wellington Lines are well in hand. Arrangements are under consideration which would enable the sewage farm to be closed.