MR. BRYN ROBERTSI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether Major General Bruce Hamilton published a notice at Ventersburg, dated 1st November, 1900, that the town of Ventersburg had been cleared of supplies and partly burnt, and the farms in the vicinity destroyed, on account of the frequent attacks on the railway line in the neighbourhood; that the Boer 'women and children who were left behind should apply to the Boer commandants for food, who would supply them unless they wished to see them starved; and that no supplies would be sent from the railway to the town; whether the Boer women and children were deprived of all their food supplies, and then abandoned to starvation as threatened in the notice; whether there is any evidence that the attacks on the railway proceeded from the town; and whether he will inform Major General Bruce Hamilton that the Hague Convention recommended that there should be no infliction of any 1020 general penalty on a population on account of the acts of individuals for which it cannot be regarded as collectively responsible.
§ MR. BRODRICKAs it became evident in October last that Ventersburg was being used by the enemy as a base for supplies, from which constant attacks on the railway were being carried out, the Commander-in-Chief directed that houses in Ventersburg and its vicinity belonging to Boers away fighting should be destroyed, and grain and stores removed. These orders were carried out. The wording of General Bruce Hamilton's notice, however, was not submitted to Lord Roberts, and was not approved by him. It was withdrawn at once. Care was taken that the women and children should not be abandoned to starvation. As regards the third and fourth paragraphs of the hon. Member's question, the general officer commanding on the spot was satisfied that the attacks in question proceeded from the town, and that those who suffered were responsible.
MR. BRYN ROBERTSIs it the rule of the British Army that if the enemy occupy a town, and are driven out of it, the British Army are entitled to destroy the town and burn all the houses?
§ MR. LABOUCHERE (Northampton)Was the proclamation withdrawn before or after the houses had been burned?
§ MR. BRODRICKThe proclamation; was, I think, put out about the time the houses were burned. The houses were burned, and the proclamation with regard to the treatment of the Boers themselves—the women and children— was withdrawn at once.
§ MR. DILLON (Mayo, E.)What was done with the women and children?
§ MR. BRODRICKThey were treated in the same way as women and children have been treated throughout the campaign. They were given rations from the Army stores.
§ * MR. SPEAKEROrder, order! That does not arise upon the question.