§ THE EARL OF ERNEI have to ask Her Majesty's Government a Question which appears on the Paper, with reference to defective bayonets. This is not the first time the matter has received public attention. Indeed, I believe that in the battles of the Soudan more than one valuable life was sacrificed by the defective quality of the bayonets supplied to Her Majesty's Land and Sea Forces; and, since then, a large number of bayonets have been tested, and of those about one-third were found to be in a defective state. Your Lordships 744 may have seen, from the public prints, that about 10 days ago a number of bayonets and cutlasses were served out on board Her Majesty's ship Indus, at Devonport; and every one of those, without exception, on being tested, was either bent double or twisted round like a corkscrew. I desire, therefore, to ask Her Majesty's Government, If they can give any information as to the reported defects in the sword-bayonets lately supplied to one of Her Majesty's ships; whether any of these bayonets are in London; and if so, if they can be seen by Members of this House; also to ask, if Her Majesty's Government can inform the House of the date of their manufacture and the firm supplying them; and also when, and by whom, they were passed into the service?
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Lord HARRIS)My Lords, in answer to the noble Earl, I have to say that the sword-bayonets in question are some which were altered from cutlasses at the time of the adoption of the Martini-Henry rifle. They were reduced in size in order to suit that weapon, and were approved of by the Director of Naval Ordnance in 1871, after reference to the captain of Her Majesty's ship Excellent, then stationed at Portsmouth. That officer reported that the new weapon was suitable for the new Martini-Henry rifle, and for the then sword exercise was a more efficient weapon than the old cutlass. The cutlasses in question had been many years in use, having been made in 1859, and had passed muster, or had proved satisfactory, until the year 1871. They were then withdrawn, and altered to suit the Martini-Henry rifle issued in 1874. They had been in use from 1874 down to 1886, and there was no complaint made about them which the authorities could trace until last year, when the Training Squadron did complain that one or more cutlasses had bent. They are being gradually withdrawn, however, and are being retested, and put to a severer test. Some of the sword-bayonets are at the War Office now; and if the noble Earl, or any other noble Lord, wishes to see them, I will have them placed in my room for their inspection. I must say that they have bent in a very remarkable way; but their having bent does not prove that they were not 745 equal to the test originally demanded of them at the time they were issued. The test which was then required of them was that they should be bent to the extent of four inches over a block; and there is no doubt they will still stand that test. The conjecture is that they have been put to a severer test than that; and I am informed that there is no steel which is made which will not give way when put to a severer test than that which it was originally intended to stand. These naval sword-bayonets were originally supplied by contract in 1858, when 15,000 were obtained from Charles Reeves, of Birmingham; some 3,000 since from Chevasse, of Birmingham; and 900 from R. and W. Aston, of Birmingham; and in 1859, 3,300 were bought from Kirschbaum, of Solingen. On the introduction of the Martini-Henry rifle, they were altered at the Enfield Small Arms Factory, to meet the views of the naval authorities; all so altered being tested so as to comply with the sealed pattern. The tests were on the responsibility of the Superintendent of the Small Arms Factory, who, in all deliveries, is responsible that the supply is equal to the specification and sample; and they stood the tests satisfactorily. All cutlasses and cutlass sword-bayonets are in course of being re-tested, and are now being subjected to a more severe test than was considered necessary at the time of the approval of the present pattern in 1871. As that pattern has been complained of, it comes within the subject of reference now being considered by the Royal Commission on Ordnance Stores, and the question will, therefore, be submitted to them. These cutlasses have been in use since 1874; and when, in March 1884, General Graham was instructed to report as to some complaints that had at that time appeared in the public Press respecting defective cutlasses and bayonets which had been in use in Egypt—he reported that no reports had been received in reference to cutlasses.