QUESTION. OBSERVATIONS. (Hansard, 20 May 1892)

THE EARL OF ARRAN

My Lords, in rising to ask Her Majesty's Government the question that stands in my name, I wish to say that my attention was called to the subject by the sickness of a relative of my own; but my personal interest in the matter may be said to have ceased as soon as the transfer of the Royal Horse Guards from the barracks they lately occupied to Knightsbridge. And I should also wish it to be understood that I in no way reflect upon the Administration of the War Office; for I think your Lordships will agree with me in saying that Her Majesty's Government have done everything they could reasonably be expected to do during their term of Office to ameliorate the unfortunate condition of things which existed in most of the barracks in the United Kingdom. At the same time there have been so many rumours as to the amount of sickness which existed amongst the officers of the Royal Horse Guards, and of the insanitary state of the different barracks and quarters, which they have temporarily occupied during the rebuilding of the Albany Barracks, that I trust Her Majesty's Government will not object 1428 to lay the real state of the case before your Lordships, and to give the House any further information which they may have received on the point, subsequent to the answer which the Secretary of State gave some time ago in another place; and also that they may be able, perhaps, to inform the House what steps have been taken to remedy any insanitary defects which may have been found in the various barracks which have been occupied by the Royal Horse Guards. I should like to include the building of the Horse Guards in my question, although I believe that technically that building is under the Board of Works, and not under the War Office. My Lords, I beg to ask Her Majesty's Government how many cases of typhoid fever have occurred amongst the officers of the Royal Horse Guards (the Blues) since August last; whether any examination has been made by the Military, or other Medical, or Sanitary Authorities during the past year of the barracks and quarters occupied by the Royal Horse Guards up to 5th April, 1892; and whether there is any objection to lay these Reports, if any have been made, on the Table?

§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Earl BROWNLOW)

My Lords, in reply to my noble Friend, I have to state that only one case of enteric fever has been officially reported, but I regret extremely to think that that one case should have been the case which must have caused very grave anxiety to my noble Friend. On Lord Sudley's illness being reported, a Board assembled on the 17th March. At that time the Adjutant informed some of the members of the Board that other officers had been previously ill; I think, probably, those were the cases which the noble Earl indicated in his question. These two officers who were ill were Lieutenant Fitzgerald and Lieutenant Forrester; both of them were attended by their own physicians, and it is very difficult to find out the particulars of their illness. On inquiry, I am given to understand that Lieutenant Fitzgerald was suffering when he was in barracks from passive congestion of the right lung; but I understand that after he left barracks he had an undoubted slight attack of enteric 1429 fever. Lieutenant Forrester's case does not seem to be very clear. I am informed that he was attended by two private physicians; one of them appears to have attended him for influenza, and afterwards another physician who attended him says that he had an attack of enteric fever. In his case, however, it appears that it is very doubtful where that attack may have been contracted. The fact remains, however, that the attack of Lord Sudley was certainly contracted in barracks. A Board was assembled on the 17th March to inquire into the sanitary condition of the barracks, and reported that One and Two, Officers' Quarters, which are the quarters where Lord Sudley was, are in a good sanitary condition, but that in the servants' quarters underneath (and this is the important point; this is, no doubt, what was wrong) there was a foul-smelling sink near the window, the trap of which, at the time of their visit, had been removed. I think there can be no doubt at all that it was that sink that caused the illness, and that sink has since been removed. The Board then proceeded to inspect all the drainage arrangements of the barracks, and reported favourably; they then examined the water and milk supply, and reported favourably of both. I think, therefore, that everything has been done that can possibly be done. Quarters were found for the officers while the work was going on, at a distance from this particular part of the barracks, and since that time there have been no complaints of any sort. My noble Friend asks in his question whether there is any objection to lay these Reports, if any have been made, on the Table. If my noble Friend presses his Motion, of course I shall not refuse to do so; at the same time, as they are very simple Departmental Reports with very little detail, with nothing in them except what I have already laid before your Lordships, I daresay he will not press for them.