THE CONVEYANCE OF MILITIA. (Hansard, 4 August 1899)

THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIAN

I rise to ask the Secretary of State for War who was responsible for the arrangements made for the return of the 3rd Battalion the Royal Scots from Salisbury Plain to their depôt at Glencorse. The question may appear one of trivial importance, and one which might be considered unworthy of being referred to in your Lordships' House, but I think this impression will be removed when I state the facts. I was in active command of this battalion for some time, and I am now its honorary colonel. The battalion was ordered to Aldershot, and it accomplished the journey from Glencorse in the reasonable space of twelve hours. The battalion consisted of 500 men, and was divided into two trains; but on the return journey, for reasons, I presume, of economy, the whole battalion of 500 men, with their officers, arms, and accoutrements were conveyed in one train, drawn by a single engine, with the result that the journey occupied about twenty-three hours instead of twelve hours. When the train arrived at Clapham, it was an hour and a half late, and part of the further delay was caused by the discovery that the 1450 baggage and accoutrements had been placed in wagons which would not pass through the tunnels of the Underground Railway, and the trans-shipment of the loads, which was performed by twenty-two or twenty-three bricklayers, took some three hours. I have not heard what the damage to the accoutrements amounted to, but it must have been considerable. They eventually got to King's Cross, where they were detained for a considerable time. This enormous train then went on with one engine, and two of the couplings broke on the journey. If all this happened when it was known four weeks beforehand that these men, with their arms and accoutrements, were to be sent by a certain railway to Scotland, what would happen in the case of mobilisation in a hurry? One moral is that the War Office should see that either all tunnels are sufficiently high to enable all trucks to go through, or that the trucks, on which arms and accoutrements are likely to be placed, should be so constructed as to go under any tunnel in the United Kingdom. There is another point I wish to raise. The noble Marquess has done all in his power to make the Militia service more popular, and I tender him my hearty thanks for what he has done; but it must be remembered that during the whole of the twenty-three hours occupied by the journey the men were locked in the carriages, and not allowed to leave for any purpose whatever. The officers of the battalion had made arrangements for the men to get refreshments at York and other places on the way, but, owing to the delay, they got nothing to eat or drink the whole twenty-three hours. They may have been very happy at Salisbury Plain, but such incidents as this are bound to have a bad effect on recruiting. The dreadful treatment these men received will probably be related all over the country, and it is not likely to encourage recruiting in the district to which the men belong. I am sure the noble Marquess will do what he possibly can to see that such a state of things is not likely to occur again.

§ * THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE

My Lords, I have not yet received any official information with regard to the very regrettable incident to which my noble friend has called attention. I had 1451 heard of it from a private source, and I had given directions to have the fullest possible inquiries made. I have reason to believe that an official representation upon the subject will reach the War Office before long, and I promise my noble friend it shall be thoroughly investigated. It is obvious that if what he says is correct, bad arrangements of this kind, producing as they do great suffering and inconvenience to the men, cannot but have an injurious effect upon recruiting. The responsibility for the arrangements for the conveyance of these Militia battalions rests with the Quartermaster-General's Department of the War Office, but those arrangements, of course, have to be carried out by the railway companies, and until I have received the official report it is impossible for me to say whether the blame rests with the War Office for unwisely planning the arrangements, or whether it is the railway authorities who deserve censure for having failed to carry out the programme arranged between them and the War Office. The matter shall be thoroughly investigated, and if the House is not sitting when I get the report I will undertake to communicate the substance of it to my noble friend.