VISCOUNT CLIFDEN (Lord MENDIP)My Lords, I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether the reports which have come home of the insufficiency of accommodation for the troops at Ladysmith are correct; whether the number of beds in hospital is not equal to the demand; whether the number of horses for the cavalry regiment (5th Lancers) just gone to Lady smith is far short of the proper number; and whether the means of transport are totally inadequate? I daresay your Lordships will permit me, in a very few sentences, to explain why I have put these Questions to the Secretary of State for War. Like many others, I have received information from Natal, which, I think, is highly unsatisfactory. I will just mention the heads of the information I have received, and which concerns Ladysmith, which your Lordships are aware is on the frontier of the Transvaal. The camp is a collection of huts, made of corrugated iron; and lean-to huts are provided for stables. The men have waterproof sheets laid 784 on the mud for their beds. I am not quite sure whether I am right in flattering the authorities by saying the waterproof sheets are there. An application has been made by the Ordnance Department for barrack furniture for the men, which means tables, beds, plates, and basins, but the authorities at home have refused to sanction it. I am informed, with regard to the stables, that they are in a filthy condition, and that the horses lie on the bare ground in puddles of liquid manure and covered with mud. They have not enough beds even for the men in hospital. There is much enteric fever, both amongst soldiers and civilians, owing, it is said, to the pollution of streams by cattle dying in them of rinderpest. In a letter dated March 18th this year. I am informed that the horses fit for service number only 195 for 517 non-commissioned officers and men, and that the untrained horses are all "bronchos" from Argentina, got last year. Some are fearful buck-jumpers, and will not allow themselves to be groomed. If the regiment went on service they would only have to eat what they could carry on their backs, and they would have no reserve ammunition. I am informed that they have absolutely no transport arrangements, and that the doctor sent in on March 18th for more orderlies for the hospital, as the sick were increasing. Now, my Lords, my object is merely to find out if these details are true. If my information be correct, I hope the fact that I have brought it before the House may lead to immediate improvement in the condition of things at Ladysmith. I should have liked to have moved for the reports of the commanding officers of the 9th and 5th Lancers and the Royal Artillery, but I know the answer—and it is a valid one—that I should get, namely, that these reports cannot be laid upon your Lordships' Table. I have only one word more to say. I am sure no soldier will ever grumble about the hardships he might have to put up with on active service, or the dangers to which he is exposed, but I cannot think that you increase your fighting power in time of war by killing your men in time of peace. I beg, my Lords, to ask the Secretary of State for War the Questions of which I have given notice.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (The Marquess of LANSDOWNE)I have no doubt the noble Lord who asks these Questions recollects that the garrison of Natal was specially strengthened last year, by the addition of three batteries of artillery and two battalions of infantry. The total strength in Natal now stands at 4,780 men. A portion of that force was sent to Ladysmith, a place where no barrack accommodation was already in existence. [Viscount CLIFDEN: When?] Last year. Ladysmith was a place at which troops had not up to that time been stationed. No barracks were available, and it was consequently necessary to improvise arrangements which, I fully admit, were not of an entirely satisfactory character. The general officer in command at the Cape, reported to us at the beginning of the year that, in his expectation, by the 31st March, accommodation would be ready for the whole of the troops, with the exception of 24 families who were in hired quarters in Pietermaritzburg, and 200 men for whom accommodation was not provided. I find that in the course of last year we obtained permission from the Treasury to spend no less than £47,000 in providing accommodation for the Natal force, and we have provided, in this year's Estimates, a sum of £15,000 towards making good some of those deficiencies to which the noble Lord has called attention. I am glad to be able to tell him that the huts to which he referred, are already being provided with floors. I believe it is perfectly true that, owing to the nature of the soil and the climate, the ground sheets which ha I been supplied were not sufficient to keep the troops properly dry. I am afraid also I must admit that the general reports which we have received as to the health of the troops are far from satisfactory. There has been a great deal of enteric fever, due, I believe, in a great measure, to the cause to which the noble Lord referred—namely, the pollution of the streams from the dead bodies of the numerous cattle that have perished from rinderpest of late. I may tell the noble Lord that I have called for a special report upon the condition of the accom 786 modation of the troops, and upon the state of their health from the general officer in command at the Cape. Then, my Lords, the noble Lord asked me a Question with regard to the number of horses with which the 5th Lancers are provided. Their establishment of horses is 433. They have at this moment, 396, and are therefore 37 horses short. The noble Lord spoke very disparagingly of the American horses which were obtained last year, but I believe that these "broncho" horses are extremely serviceable animals, and that the noble Lord's unfavourable opinion of them is not wholly deserved. Then with regard to the question of transport I do not quite know whether the noble Lord spoke of regimental transport, or of the kind of transport which would be necessary in the event of the troops being mobilised for war. [Viscount CLIFDEN: I was referring to regimental transport.] I think it is highly probable that for the same reason to which I have already referred—I mean the large loss of animals owing to sickness—the regimental transport may be short, but I have no special information on that point. I think I have answered the noble Lord's Questions. I will say that I do not for a moment allege that the troops are as well provided for as we should wish, but the noble Lord must, of course, make some allowance for the fact that they were sent to Ladysmith at very short notice, and that many of them are stationed at a place where there was no proper accommodation already in existence.
VISCOUNT CLIFDENIs the noble Marquess quite certain that the troops did not go to Ladysmith until last year?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WARTo the best of my belief they were sent last year. I will make inquiries.
VISCOUNT CLIFDENMy impression is that they have been there longer. With regard to the horses, the noble Marquess has given 396 as the number, but he did not say that all these horses were fit for service. I am informed that on March 18th the state of things was as follows: Horses, untrained, 101; sick and lame, 50; away grazing, and which had never 787 been seen by the regiment at that moment, 33; total number of horses, 379. I thank the noble Marquess for the answers he has given to my Questions.
§ House adjourned at 4.45.