§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Under-Secretary of State for War who is responsible for the present condition of the military barracks at Mullingar; whether the barracks comprise proper detention rooms, certified in accordance with the Regulations as adequate for the number detained, under the charge of a proper officer, and kept in proper order; whether he is aware that the windows are broken and stuffed with rags, and otherwise out of order; why the regulation has not been observed requiring a soldier sentenced to detention to be committed to a proper detention barracks if his sentence exceeds 168 hours; whether he is aware that the detention room at Mullingar, certified as suitable only as a temporary detention room for ten men, has been used for the detention at the same time of as many as twenty-seven men for periods of imprisonment exceeding seven days, with dangerous consequences to physical and mental health; whether this punishment is used for, and results in, impelling untrained and otherwise' unfit men to volunteer for the front, in order to escape this punishment; and whether, in the interest of humanity, soldiers in detention in Mullingar will be provided somewhere with the accommodation specified in the regulations?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONThe answer to the first part of the question is the officer commanding the troops, Mullingar; to the second part in the affirmative; the suggestions in parts 3, 5, and 6 are not in accordance with the facts; in regard to the 4th and 7th parts, the regulations are observed except where men are necessarily detained owing to an absence of vacancies in detention barracks and the accommodation is ample for average requirements.