§ MR. JAMES O'CONNOR (Wicklow, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that a number of the Bombay sappers have arrived at Ahmednagar, and are putting up a high barbed wire entanglement to inclose the iron roofed huts in which Boer prisoners are to be detained; can he say why the Boer prisoners are to be lodged in iron-roofed huts; what is the necessity for the barbed wire entanglement, and upon whose authority it has been erected.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord G. HAMILTON, Middlesex, Ealing)I have not received any information of the nature referred to, but I have no doubt the military authorities in India will carry out the wishes of His Majesty's Government by providing suitable accommodation for the prisoners and by taking proper precautions against their escape.
§ MR. DILLON (Mayo, E.)May I ask if the wire entanglement is part of the suitable accommodation?
§ LORD G. HAMILTONIt is part of the precautions taken against escape, and similar precaution was taken when English, Irish, and Scotch soldiers were prisoners of war at Pretoria.
§ MR. DILLONWar does not prevail in India.