§ MR. MICHAEL AUSTINI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, what action will be taken in connection with the Officer Commanding O Battery Artillery, who acted in contravention of The Army Act, 1881, in assigning billets for horses exclusively to the Petty Sessions Clerk, Newcastle West, county Limerick, the allotment of billets being entirely in the hands of the local police authority?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANThere was no billeting at all upon the Petty Sessions Clerk, who was not a person liable to have billets drawn upon him, but he seemed to have a good deal of stabling, and to have voluntarily offered to put up a number of horses to avoid billeting them in twos and threes all over the town. This was done merely in the interests of the public service, the commanding officer accepting accommodation to the extent of 33, not 65 horses, the billets for the remainder being obtained in the regular way through the police. There was no regulation to prevent a commanding officer from using his discretion in making an arrangement of this kind, and it was considered a preferable plan to having the billets scattered all over the town.