§ MR. BARTLEY (Islington, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether he would state approximately how the 180,600 of our troops which, in the estimate of the Government, are expected to be in South Africa in the next fortnight or three weeks are made up—namely, how many are British and Irish, Regulars, Yeomanry, Militia, and Volunteers; how many have been raised in South Africa; and how many are from our colonies other than South Africa.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe composition is as follows in round numbers:—Regular Army, 126,000; Royal Navy, 1,000; Militia, 9,000; Yeomanry, 5,000; Volunteers, 10,000; Colonial Troops, 26,000. Total, 179,000. I have left out odd 906 numbers. The exact total is 179,846, of which about 20,000 were raised in South Africa, and about 6,000 come from other colonies. I may add that since I gave this figure to the House, it has been decided to send 17 additional battalions of Militia, and that 3,000 additional Yeomanry have been raised and will be sent out; bringing the total of Militia to something over 20,000, the total of Yeomanry to 8,000, and the grand total of forces of all kinds to about 194,000. Perhaps I ought also to warn any hon. Members who are not familiar with the conditions of campaigning that very large deductions must be made from the total numbers sent to find the total number at any time available in the field. But I have excluded all killed and missing.