'FRISCO MAIL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 386, 10 April 1902, Page 4

'FRISCO MAIL NEWS.

WAR OFFICE AFFAIRS (Per R.M.S. . Ventura at Auckland). (By Telegraph). SAN FRANCISCO, March 20. A cablegram from London, of March 18, says : The debate this evening in the House of Commons, on a motion of Sir H. Campbell Bannerman for the appointment of a special committee for the investigation of the commercial history of the war, called forth several acrimonious exchanges of remarks. Mp Reginald McKenna (Liberal), commenting on the Remount Department, said that widespread corruption iii the purchase of horses had been disclosed in almost every country on the globe. L* ?* Stanley, the Financial Secretary to the War Oliice, interrupted Mr McKenna with an angry denial of a specific charge regarding the purchase of horses in Spain. He said that (he statement was maliciously false, but was only part of a series of bogus charges, in defence of which the Government were then engaged. He quoted .figures, and declared that they bore out his assertions.

Mr Lambton (Liberal Unionist) drew Sir 11, Campbell Bannerman's fire by .declaring that the leader ol the Opposition, by bis reckless language, had taken from many people the consolation of feeling that their relatives who had died in South Africa had honorably fallen in the service of the country. To this Sir Henry angrily replied “ I give a most complete and circumstantial denial‘to every word that the honorable gentleman has sa'id.” The statement caused confusion in the House, and there were cries of Withdraw !” But Sir Henry would not withdraw his remarks, and Mr Lambton said that his language to Sir I-leury referred to the methods of barbarism and similar talk about the. concentration camps and other matters. The Speaker interrupted by saying : “ Both gentlemen are out pf order.” Mr Lambton therefore apologised, but said that utterances such as he had quoted were gravely injurious to the soldiers in South Africa, and the House ougiit to demand an authoritative declaration of the Opposition's, attitude on this subject. Mr Norton, an advanced Liberal, joined in the attack on the Government. He declared the losses in the transport of each column n South Africa amonuted to from seventy to one* hundred thousand pounds. Challenged regarding Ins authority for the statement, Mr Norton said Mr Brodrick has ordered a Departmental Committee to investigate the matter, and* said that pigeon-holed evidence showed that he had stated Mr Asquith (Advanced Liberal) strongly supported Sir H. Gampbell-Bannerman:s motion, which he contended was only a vote of censure because Hie Government has chosen to make it so. Mr Balfour (Conservative), winding up the debate, argued that acceptance of the motion would hamper the military operations and give an advantage to the enemy, besides creating a bad pi ec.tdenl. Sir Henry;s motion was rejected by a vote oi 3-16 to 190, the big majority eliciting loud Ministerial cheers.