§ SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucester, Forest of Dean)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War what was on 1st January last the number of horses of the Royal Horse Artillery and of Field Artillery together on the British Establishment, and the corresponding number for 1st January, 1897; how many artillery horses on the British establishment were at the Cape and in Egypt on 1st January, 1899; and how many in the United Kingdom; and how many were in the United Kingdom on 1st January, 1879.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe Horse and Field Artillery on the British Establishment had, oil 1st January, 1879, 5,714 effective horses; oh the 1st January, 1899, 4,787. Of these, on the 1st January, 1899, there were 469 at the Cape, 144 in Egypt, and 4,174 at home. On the 1st January, 1879, there were 5,651 at home. The right honourable Member will no doubt remember that the number of Horse Artillery batteries was largely reduced in 1887, and that in 1879–80 a reduction of about 700 waggon horses was made in the Field Batteries. There is now a reserve of horses, which did not exist in 1879.