§ SIR ELLIOTT LEES () BirkenheadTo ask the Secretary of State for War whether the usual practice of the War Office has been to station regiments returning from active service in South Africa near their depots, thus allowing men going on furlough the opportunity, without unnecessary expense, of visiting their relatives; whether the number of battalions recruited in Scotland and the north of England is too great to allow of all returning being quartered in or near their own districts, thus creating cases where a man's railway fare and travelling expenses between the regimental district and the station where the regiment is quartered may amount to as much as two pounds or more; and whether, in cases where a battalion has been abroad for more than two years on active service in South Africa, and is stationed more than 100 miles from its regimental district, he will arrange that some allowance for railway fare shall be made to men proceeding to their own regimental district on furlough.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Brodrick.)
The reply to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. As regards the second paragraph, there are not sufficient stations in Scotland to quarter the regiments re- 1207 cruited there. Return tickets are, however, granted for soldiers proceeding on furlough at single fare, and there would appear to be no sufficient grounds for making the suggested extension of this grant.