THE O'DONOGHUEasked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether it was owing to the paucity of subaltern officers in the Native Indian Army, a field officer was recently deputed to the island of Perim in the Red Sea to command the detachment there, the said detachment consisting of about forty Sepoys, and therefore only a subaltern's command; and, if so, whether such a paucity of officers necessitating the employment of superior officers on minor duties is under the consideration of the Government?
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTONThe India Office is not kept informed of the officers employed on detachment duties in India. In this case, however, the regiment which furnished the Perim garrison had, it appears from the last quarterly Army List, three field officers and four captains and subalterns present, with 16 Native commissioned officers, which is the normal organization of a Native Infantry regiment. If, therefore, a field officer was sent to Perim, it was probably due either to ordinary regimental arrangements or to the desire of the brigadier-general in command to have for special reasons an officer of special experience in command at the island of Perim, a post which, though small, is exceptionally important.