§ SIR JOHN COLOMBI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether it is in accordance with Foreign Office rules, or with precedent or custom, for an officer at the head of a subordinate Branch of a War Office Department, such as the Inspector General of Remounts, to communicate direct with our Military Attachés abroad on Military matters, such as the purchase or supply of horses for Military purposes in South Africa; whether he will explain the procedure by which communications between the War Office and our Military Attachés are conducted, and state whether the Foreign Office or the War Office defines the duties and controls the action of our Military Attachés abroad.
§ * LORD CRANBORNEAll official communications between the War Office and our Military Attachés abroad are forwarded through the Foreign Office and the head of the Mission to which the officer is attached, but it has been the custom for private and demi-official correspondence to pass between some Departments of the War Office and Military Attachés. The Military Attachés, are by the terms of their appointment, placed under the instructions of the heads of the Missions to which they are respectively attached, and address their reports to His Majesty's representative, by whom they are forwarded to the Secretary of State.