§ SIR JOHN KENNAWAY (Devonshire, Honiton)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the members of the South African Constabulary who are at present performing duties outside the scope of their enlistment (such as guarding forts, drifts, and passes) may be allowed to return to their proper work of policing the towns, which is now being done by members of the regular army; whether the South African Constabulary can be provided with proper equipment, and especially with warmer clothing for the cold weather; and whether arrangements can be made to allow the wives of married members of the South African Constabulary to join their husbands in South Africa immediately, or, failing this, to allow to the wives of married members of the South African Constabulary, while still remaining in England, the pay, at the rate of 3s. per day, to which they would become entitled if they were allowed to join their husbands in South Africa.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN,) Birmingham, W.The policing of towns is not the only proper work of the South African Constabulary. The Constabulary were enlisted for the maintenance of order and public security in the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal, and to act as a military force in time of war, which now exists. I have recently communicated with Lord Kitchener and Major-General Baden Powell with regard to clothing for the Constabulary, and they inform me that all the demands of the Constabulary can be met by the Ordnance Department locally. The time for wives and families of married men to join their husbands must be fixed by the High Commissioner and the Inspector General, with due regard to military necessities, and I do not propose to interfere with their discretion in the matter. In answer to the last question, I am informed by the Inspector General that an allotment of pay should make a separation allowance unnecessary.