§ MR. GOULDING (Wiltshire, Devizes)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that Sergeants Stephens and Brind and Private Carmichael, 18th Hussars, were captured by the enemy, and consequently lost the field glasses with which they had voluntarily provided themselves for the public service; that the Commander-in-Chief in South Africa has recommended that the claims made by the men for the field glasses should be paid, as they had shown considerable zeal in providing them- 278 selves with field glasses at their own expense, and had been exonerated by a court of inquiry from all blame as to their capture, and that the War Office has declined to sanction their indemnification; whether, taking into consideration the recommendation of the Commander-in-Chief, and the resistance to which he alludes, the claims of these men will be reconsidered.
LORD STANLEYField glasses are not required by regulation, and have not therefore hitherto been considered matter for indemnification. The question is receiving further consideration.