GENERAL PEELsaid, he rose to ask the Secretary of State for War, Out of what fund the Indian troops in China, who have not been voted by Parliament or provided for in the Estimates, are to be paid?
SIR GEORGE LEWISreplied, that the reason why the regiments now at Shanghai were not included in the Estimates was, that when the Estimates were prepared, the Government did not anticipate that the Indian regiments would be detained in China. They were, however, detained there in consequence of apprehended danger to the English merchants at Shanghai. In reply to the question as to the mode of defraying the expense, he said that he hoped that the Vote for the Land Forces would not be exceeded; but, if it should turn out that that Vote was exceeded, then the ordinary practice in such a case hitherto had been either to apply to the Treasury to sanction a transfer from any other Vote in respect to which there might be a saving, or to propose to the House a Vote to cover the excess. He believed that it was contemplated to make some alteration in the Appropriation Act this year, and he was not sure, therefore, whether it would be any longer competent for the War Department to make a transfer from one Vote to another; and, consequently, should there be an excess of expenditure, it would be necessary to propose a separate Vote to the House for the purpose of covering it.