§ MR. DUCKWORTH (Lancashire, Middleton)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that a Reservist from Rochdale named Kierman, who joined his regiment (the Scottish Rifles) in South Africa and was afterwards transferred to the mounted infantry at Colenso, has died of wounds 910 received at that place, and that his mother has had no official notification of this fact except through a letter just received from the captain of Kierman's company; and whether it is usual for the War Office to inform the nearest of kin in such cases.
*MR. J. POWELL-WILLIAMSThe fact that Kierman had been wounded was duly notified to the regimental depôt for report to the next of kin, but by some accident, which is much regretted, the circumstance that he died later of his wound was overlooked. The usual practice is to notify casualties to the regimental district, whence they are communicated to the next of kin.