MR. PATRICK O'BRIENOn behalf of the HON. MEMBER for the St. Patrick Division of Dublin, I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether Colonel McClane and Mr. A. C. Welch have been sent to Austria to purchase 1,000 horses at £ 50 each, and whether any offer was made on similar terms to obtain a supply of horses from Ireland; and whether export officials expressed an opinion that they could do better in Ireland.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThese two officers were, I believe, sent to Austria by the Imperial Yeomanry Committee, and not by the Remount Department of the War Office. The War Office is purchasing horses in Ireland.
§ CAPTAIN DONELAN () Cork, E.Is any agent employed by the War Office to purchase horses in the south of Ireland?
§ MR. WYNDHAMI am unable to say. I know we are purchasing horses in the north, and a right hon. Gentleman has just submitted a complaint that we are buying more horses from Catholics than from Protestants.