§ SIR J. COLOMBI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War to state the ranks of the officers and the arms of the service to which they respectively belong who are now engaged at, or on their way to, Wei-hai-Wei to inquire and report upon that place, distinguishing between those already there and those en route?
§ MR. BRODRICKThe Secretary of State does not think it is for the good 1318 of the public service to give details as to officers who may be sent to particular stations for purposes of this kind.
§ SIR J. COLOMBIs the right honourable Gentleman aware that the names of some of these officers have already appeared in the Press?
§ MR. BRODRICKSome unauthorised statements have appeared in the public Press, and if all such statements are to be corrected in the House it would prove a task of some magnitude.