§ SIR ELLIOTT LEES (Birkenhead)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, whether, without troubling the Staff in South Africa for additional Returns, he can himself give the approximate number of Regulars (Cavalry and Mounted Infantry), also the approximate number of Irregulars (Colonials and Imperial Yeomanry), now employed with the mounted mobile columns in South Africa; and whether Infantry and Artillery still accompany these columns
§ MR. BRODRICKI could not give exact information without applying to South Africa, but the number of Cavalry and Mounted Infantry in South Africa is approximately 35,000, and of Colonials and Imperial Yeomanry 31,000. The answer to the last paragraph is that columns differ in their composition according to their objective.