§ MR. WALTER LONG (Dublin S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether it is not the fact that the report recently made by combined military and civil medical men upon the condition of the Piershill Barracks, Edinburgh, expresses their concurrence in the following statement made by the: Director-General of the Army Medical Services—that "it is difficult to express in moderate language the conditions under which these officers are accommodated"; whether the report upon the men's accommodation was not also most unsatisfactory, and whether the following general statement was not also made, that the absence of actual cases of illness does not indicate freedom from grave danger, and whether in these circumstances he cannot see his way to make without delay some temporary arrangement in order to avoid the serious risks to which under existing circumstances both officers and men are undoubtedly exposed.
§ MR. HALDANEThese reports confirm me in the opinion that as soon as accommodation elsewhere can be provided 1701 the cavalry should be removed from these barracks. As I have already said in reply to a supplementary Question put to me by the right hon. Gentleman on the 17th instant,†we do not regard the risks of the regiment remaining a little time longer to be substantial, and he will realise that the hasty adoption of temporary arrangements, especially at this time of the year, might lead to more serious results than those which he wishes me to avoid.