§ MR. C. T. GILES (Cambridge, Wisbech)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that the weekly allowances of coal served out to the regiments are often insufficient to keep up fires in the barrack rooms; whether the allowances are generally augmented by subscriptions among the men; whether last autumn it happened on several occasions that soldiers returned wet through after a long march, and had no fires in their rooms at which to dry their clothes or warm themselves; 491 and, whether he will take steps to prevent the recurrence of such a state of things?
§ *MR. BRODRICKThe allowance of coal to a regiment is not weekly but annual, and it has been found sufficient. The men used to subscribe for additional fuel, but, so far as is known to the War Office, the practice does not continue under the present system of allowances. No such occurrence as that referred to has been reported, and it is believed that with ordinary management of the coal supply it could not occur.