§ MAJOR RASCH (Essex, S.E.)I beg to ask the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether lie is aware that the Confidential Report on Experimental Mobilisation, Home District, July 1895, states that the present registration is useless for troopers, the remounts being uneven in class, unbroken, and only fit for draught purposes; and whether he would increase the number of stallions now distributed in the Congested Districts of Ireland (last Report 1895), and supplement them (hackneys, cobs, ponies, and barbs, page 8, Fourth Report 1895) by a heavier stamp of horse suitable for the Cavalry service?
§ MR. JOHN DILLON (Mayo, E.)asked whether the department dealing with the provision of stallions in Ireland did not involve a monstrous waste of some of the small sum at the disposal of the Congested Districts Board, and whether it would not be desirable to abolish this department and apply the money spent by it to more useful purposes.
MR. POWELL WILLIAMSThe matter referred to by the hon. Member for East Mayo is not under the control of the War Office. In regard to the question of my hon. and gallant Friend, I have to state that the Confidential Reports on the Mobilisation do not bear out the statements in his question. Ninety per cent. of the horses were reported to be very good, and 75 per cent. Were 461 suitable for light cavalry, the remainder being suitable for transport riders or mounted infantry. In some cases the draught horses were considered too large and heavy. The provision of stallions is not under the War Office.