§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether he will explain why Lord Kitchener refused to allow the ambulance or the bearer companies to accompany the Paardeberg column on the ground of insufficiency of forage, and in consequence of which refusal the wounded at Paardeberg, numbering about 800, including officers, had to journey for three nights in wagons drawn by oxen at the rate of two miles an hour, exposed to heat by day and cold by night, the wagons being uncovered, and amid circumstances of suffering and privation; and whether any steps will be taken to secure, by a proper system of ambulance, the mitigation of the sufferings of the wounded and dying soldiers on the field of battle.
§ * THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE vow WAR (Mr. WYNDHAM,) DoverThere is every reason to suppose that the ambulance system has upon the whole worked admirably throughout the present campaign. It is, however, of course impossible to make forced marches without the risk of most regrettable suffering among the wounded.