§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Secretary of State for War, whether his attention has been directed to the French method of supplying the Army with meat from live animals, which are driven and prepared for use by the soldiers; and whether he will consider the adoption of a similar method in the Three Kingdoms, which would insure a supply of good native meat to the troops.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) To adopt the French system of supplying the Army entirely with meat from live animals slaughtered by soldiers would necessitate a very large increase in the establishment of Army butchers and increased expense in providing abattoirs, and would thus increase the cost of the soldiers' ration considerably. A proportion of the meat issued at Aldershot, the Curragh, Shorncliffe, Chatham, and to the troops employed on manœuvres is now obtained from live cattle slaughtered by Army butchers. This is done for instructional purposes, and there is no intention of extending the system.