§ SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucester, Forest of Dean)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, what is the effective strength of horses on the British establishment of the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Artillery together at the present moment, and what were the corresponding numbers in 1876, 1877, 1878, and 1879?
§ MR. BRODRICKThe effective strength of horses on the British establishment of the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Artillery together is at present 4,420. The corresponding numbers for the years in the question were—in 1876, 5,964; 1877, 5,950; 1878, 5,950; 1879, 5212. The Horse Artillery has been reduced in the interval since 757 1876 by seven batteries, and this accounts for 730 out of the total reduction. In 1879–80 a reduction of about 700 wagon horses was made in the field batteries. It may also be observed that there is now a reserve of horses which did not exist in the earlier years named.