§ MR. TILLETTTo ask the Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the scientific precautions now available in the construction of screened ranges, he will sanction the provision of such rifle ranges, 200 or 300 yards in length, near large centres of population, and without regard to the contour of the land occupied by the range.
1455 (Answered by Mr. Secretary Arnold-Forster). After exhaustive experiments at the School of Musketry, Hythe, it has been decided that no further protected ranges are to be constructed, either for Regular or Auxiliary Forces, as the scientific precautions now available in the construction of these ranges in the vicinity of habitations do not secure absolute safety which could only be attained by a most expensive system of tunnelling. There is also involved the question of nuisance created by the noise of continual firing, which might become the subject of
| Corps. | Total number of rank and file serving at Home on 1st October, 1899. | Number with five years service and upwards. | Number with two years service and under five. |
| Foot Guards | 6,178 | 1,076 | 1,731 |
| Infantry of the Line | 52,972 | 14,806 | 10,444 |
| Total | 59,150 | 15,882 | 12,175 |