The second reading of the Army Exchanges Bill was carried
.on Monday by a majority of 97-282 to 185—some Liberals of military proclivities voting with the Government. Mr. Hardy, in explaining his measure, stated that it had been forced on him by the recommendations of a quasi-judicial Commission appointed by Lord Cardwell ; that he should consider himself dishonest if he made any approach towards Purchase ; that he only wished to benefit the Army by allowing officers to exchange whenever such exchange was approved by the Commander-in-Chief ; that the prohibition to pay for exchanges inflicted private hardship with- out securing any public good ; and that the new system, while it ignored payments, and so made Parliament irresponsible for money, would benefit ambitious officers now hampered by their circumstances. The speakers who followed, like Lord Elcho and General Shute, merely argued that the Army held the existing system to be a grievance, but Captain Stanley showed that it had actually reduced exchanges from 159 in the two years preceding the Abolition of Purchase to 97 in the two years succeeding them. All argued that exchanges were in themselves good things, and were permitted in every army in the world.
