§ CAPTAIN NORTON (Newington, W.); I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War if he can state whether, at Honnen Spruit, near Kroonstad, on the 25th of June last, 300 ex-prisoners of war, 1303 sent from Pretoria to hold the spruit in anticipation of an attack by De Wet, were armed with old Westley-Richards and Mauser rifles surrendered by the Boers; that the party had no Maxims, and was without either a surgeon or hospital staff; whether, seeing that there were thousands of Mausers with a large supply of ammunition in Pretoria at the time, will he state who was responsible for the despatch of this force in such a condition; and whether he has been informed that the ignorance of the enemy as to the weapons with the force, coupled with Colonel Bullock's prompt action, alone saved the force from annihilation; and also that the safety of the wounded was entirely due to the voluntary services and marked resourcefulness of Dr. Lenthal Cheatle, one of the consulting surgeons sent to the front, who was a chance passenger by the train that was attacked.
§ * MR. WYNDHAMThere is no information at the War Office respecting the matters alluded to in the question.