MAJOR STUART WORTLEYasked when, without in any way lessening the force at the Cape of Good Hope, it is the intention of Government to remove the 6th, 45th, and 73rd Regiments, whose period of colonial service had expired some time, and to replace those regiments with three others?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONI think the hon. and gallant Gentleman will remember that this question was fully answered upon a former occasion by my hon. Friend the Under Secretary for the War Department, who stated that no doubt the regular time of service of those regiments at the Cape had expired, but that the public exigencies required their detention at that station beyond the usual period. I would submit to the hon. and gallant Gentleman that it is hardly to be expected that the Government should state in this House their intentions with respect to the 1323 moving of this or that regiment from this or that station. It is very natural that the friends of the officers belonging to those three regiments should like to know when they may be expected home, but still the settlement of such matters must be left wholly to the discretion of the responsible department.