THE EARL OF GALLOWAYasked the Under Secretary of State for War, Whether the Report of the War Office Committee appointed under the presidency of General Lord Airey to inquire into the causes of the "breakdown" of the "Brigade Depot" and "Short Service" systems has yet been received, and when it is proposed to lay that Report upon the Tables of the Houses of Parliament? He did not wish to raise a debate on the subject at present, and therefore confined himself to asking the Question.
§ VISCOUNT BURY, in reply, said, that in his Question the noble Earl put the word "breakdown" in inverted commas. If the noble Earl was under the impression that the Commission had been appointed to inquire into the "breakdown" of the system, he demurred to that, and must ask the noble Earl for his authority?
THE EARL OF GALLOWAYsaid, that last Session, during debates in that and the other House of Parliament, the system had been described as one which had broken down. In their Lordships' House a noble Earl (the Earl of Longford) went the length of saying that on going to one end of the House he heard a noble and gallant Officer describe the system as "rotten;" and on passing to the other end of the House he heard 906 another noble and gallant Officer repeat that it was "rotten."
§ VISCOUNT BURYsaid, that he must demur to the form in which the Question had been put. He did not admit that any breakdown had occurred. There were defects in the system which were acknowledged, and Government determined there should be a Commission to inquire into the subject. But, looking at the way in which the Army had lately borne the strain of two wars on a peace establishment, it could not be fairly said that the system had broken down. The Government had determined that there should be a Commission consisting exclusively of military men, to inform them of the view taken by the Army of the question. But this inquiry was for the information of Government in the first instance, and the action to be taken upon it would be taken on the responsibility of Government. It was not, therefore, intended to make the Report public at present. The Report had been presented yesterday, but was not yet in type, and he could not say when it would be laid on the Table of the House.
§ LORD DORCHESTERsaid, that, although he objected to the word "breakdown" and the other elaborate terms which had been used, he felt very deeply, as an old soldier, the present state of the British Army. He thought that his noble Friend the Under Secretary had been somewhat flippant in criticizing such an expression. He thought that the word "shortcomings" would have been more appropriate. It had been his intention to ask simply whether the Commission which had been appointed in July last, and which had been talked about and debated upon in "another place," had come to any conclusion? He would ask to be allowed to call to the recollection of their Lordships the sensible speech of a Scotch Duke (the Duke of Buccleuch) last Session upon the subject of Brigade Depôts.
THE LORD CHANCELLORsaid, that he must call attention to the fact that the Question had been put and answered, and that there was then no Motion before their Lordships' House.
§ LORD DORCHESTERasked to be allowed to say that the noble Duke to whom he had referred had spoken of a breakdown in the Brigade Depot system in his part of the world.
THE EARL OF LONGFORDsaid, it was right for him, as a Member of the Commission, to mention to their Lordships that the inquiries of the Commission, and the conclusions at which they had arrived, were at present a profound secret.