§ MR. H. C. F. LUTTRELL (Devon, Tavistock)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the inconvenience to the farmers and general public which arises from the possibilities of artillery firing being practised on every day of the week in the summer months on Dartmoor, he will take steps to prevent any artillery firing on Dartmoor on Saturdays?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, Stirling Burghs)Steps have been taken to restrict firing on Saturdays as far as is possible consistently with batteries completing their course of instruction within the period of their encampment. The local notices issued by the military authorities at Dartmoor state that as a rule no firing takes place on Saturday except when there has been much foggy or wet weather during the week. I am informed that it would be impracticable to prohibit entirely firing on Saturday without endangering the success of the programme of instruction for the season. Dartmoor derives many advantages from its military camps, and these advantages must, I fear, have attached to them this one counterbalancing inconvenience, but every care will be taken to reduce it to a minimum.