§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI beg to ask the First Lord of the Trea- 856 sury whether he can now state definitely that the South African war despatches already asked for will be in the hands of Members before the House is asked to consider the Supplementary Estimates for war services in South Africa.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI do not myself think that these despatches have any direct connection with the Estimates to be introduced by my hon. friend the Under Secretary for War, but I frankly admit I should be very glad to lay the despatches on the Table, and I had hoped that by the time the Estimates would be discussed we might have considered that the operations of the war were at an end, or practically at an end, in which case it would be possible to lay them at once. That, however, appears to be a sanguine estimate, and I do not quite see how it is possible now to lay the despatches on the Table in view of the opinion expressed by the right hon. Gentleman and others on both sides of the House that anything which contains commentary upon military operations going on or the discretion of officers engaged should not be published while those military operations are in progress.
§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI cannot enter into a controversy on the subject now, but I must firmly protest against any such sentiment being attributed to me.