The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-14 00:00:00

SUPPLY.

Tho house then went into a committee of supply on the
army estimates.
£677,955 for barracks, including the £10,787 for Sand-
hurst.

Mr. WILLIAMS wished to call attention to the enor-
mous outlay under this head. There was also a sum of
£550,000 for hospitals. He would not grudge any amount
that might be necessary for that purpose, but he could not
but think the sum a large one.
Sir G. C. LEWIS said the vote had already been dis-
cussed; and the only thing that had been postponed was
the vote for Sandhurst. As to the item for barracks ho
could only say that the accommodation asked for had been
thought necessary . A great diminution in the mortality of
our troops had been effected in the course of the last few
years, and that was, doubtless, owing to the improvement
which had taken place in our barracks. (Hear, hear.)
Tho vote was then agreed to.
On the vote of £206,283 for the education of the scientific
branch of the army.
Mr. SELWYN objected to the item of £12,700 for in-
creasing the accommodation at Sandhurst. The vote for
the building, it was generally considered, ought to be
allowed to pass, but the present vote raised a question of
principle. He believed that a notion prevailed in the
house that no division would take place on his motion.
He should, therefore, merely move it pro forma, reserving
to himself the liberty of dividing the house on the bringing
up of the report.

Sir G. C. LEWIS said that ho had little further to add
to what ho had said in :the :early part of the evening.
He would only say that if Oxford and Cambridge were al-
lowed to compote with Sandhurst, other universities, Dublin,
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Durham, and St. Bees, would claim
to be admitted ad eundum (hear, hoar), so that the advan-
tage to Oxford and Cambridge would bo greatly watered
down. With regard to this £12,000, he had already stated ,
that the money of the cadets was paid into the Exchequer ;
and if the number amounted to 330, the receipts from them
would be about £30,000, which would more than cover tho
amount of the vote. The vote of £12,000 was, therefore,
only an advance, for if not voted it would be only fair to
leave the £30,000 in the hands of the college. The whole
question, therefore, was one of account.
Mr. WALPOLE was much astonished at the line of argu-
ment adopted by the right hon. gentleman. This was not
a question of advantage to any university, but whether all
persons who wished to enter the army without purchase
should be obliged to pass through Sandhurst. (Hear, hear.)
He thought it very advantageous that there should be a
military college to which the sons of old officers could go for
their education at a small cost, and likewise that there
should be a kind of standard to which all persons who de-
sired to become officers should come up ; but he could not
for the life of him see why a person who came up to that
standard and proved himself fit for a commission by a com-
petitive examination should be excluded because he had
received his education somewhere else than at Sandhurst,
(Hear, hear.) It had been said that Sandhurst might be
made self-supporting. Would it not be well to pause,
then, before they increased the vote, to ascertain whether
it could not be made self-supporting ? It was a question
whether this matter of competitive examination should
be pushed to an extreme. He felt his right honourable
friend the Secretary at War had made out a strong
case for giving a vote for the buildings, which vote was
agreed to last year ; but with regard to the extension of
the amount to be given for the support of Sandhurst, ho
thought it would be well of the Government to pause until
the plans had been more maturely considered. He there-
fore considered they should withdraw this vote for one year
more.

Colonel NORTH did not believe that at the University of
Cambridge or at any other university, except that of Dublin,
facilities would be offered to officers to learn their profes-
sion properly. He should give his support to the Govern-
ment on this occasion.
Mr. FINLAY also supported the vote.
Sir W. RUSSELL trusted the Government would be in-
duced to endeavour to give a little practk,al training to the
cadets.

Lord STANLEY quite understood the Government say-
ing they would not take any one into the army without pur-
chase who had not acquired a certain amount of qualifica'
tiQUi bit what ho did not underatand was that it should