§ MR. LABOUCHEREI beg to ask the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether the officers or any of the officers sent by the War Office to Argentina, in regard to the supply of horses from that country to the Cape, were members of the Remount Department, and what are the names of the officers sent; whether he is aware that the distance from the Plate to London is 6,500 miles, or about 32 days' steaming, and that the average price before the war for cattle shipped from the Plate to London was £4 10s., or including the disbursements by the persons sending cattle for fodder and attendance £5 10s. per head, and that the distance of the Plate to the Cape is 3,700 miles, or about 18 days steaming; whether he can state what was the number of horses shipped to the Cape from Argentina under the first contract made between the War Office and Messrs. Houlder, and the number of horses shipped by that firm under subsequent contracts, and the price paid per head under each contract entered into; and whether, on making these contracts, the price paid for the transport of cattle from the Plate to London before the war, and the respective distance of Argentina from the Cape and from London, were borne in mind.
LORD STANLEYIn 1897 three officers of the Remount Department 173 were sent to Argentina to buy horses —viz., Colonel Truman, Major Wood, and Captain Peters; and again in 1898, Colonel Truman, Major Peters, and Captain Ferrar. In 1899 no officers of the Department were available, and Majors Aspinwall and Kennedy were employed. The horses were landed in Natal, which is 4,900 miles from Buenos Ayres, and not at the Cape. As regards prices, no comparison can be made with cattle boats, as for horses, ships have to be specially fitted. The numbers shipped under the first contract, 1897, with Messrs. Houlder were 1,361, and the freight per head £9. Under subsequent contracts the numbers were 27,258; the rates under the various contracts being £11, £18 10s., £15, £14 10s., £11, £12 10s., and £12 respectively, inclusive of fittings, fodder, attendance, utensils, &c., on the voyage. The difference in prices is due to the enormous rise in freights generally and the price of coal.