HC Deb 08 August 1904 vol 139 cc1346-7
MR. H. J. WILSON (Yorkshire, W.R., Holmfirth)

To ask the Secretary of State for War why the annual cost of each British soldier in South Africa is £144 a year, when the cost at Esquimalt is only £122, and at Halifax, Nova Scotia, £115.

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Arnold-Forster.) The reasons for the higher cost in South Africa are:—

  1. (a) In South Africa a considerable portion of the force consists of mounted troops, who are more expensive.
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  2. (b) There is also maintained in South Africa a large number of transport animals, necessitating the employment of a numerous civilian establishment. whose cost is included in the figures given for the South African garrison.
  3. (c) The prices of provisions, forage. etc., are higher in South Africa than in Canada.