§ SIR WILLIAM PALLISERasked the Secretary of State for India, Whether an official statement lately made to the effect that the annual cost of the occupation of Candahar would amount to £1,400,000, was based upon an official 763 report of the Governor General of India, drawn up with the assistance of the Commander in Chief and other duly constituted advisers in India, or whether it was founded upon the conjecture of some person or persons residing in England; whether this estimated cost is over and above the annual military expenditure in India; and, whether he will lay the details of the estimate upon the Table of the House?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONSir, no estimate, so far as I am aware, has been framed of the probable annual cost of the occupation of the Province of Candahar, for we have no certain information as to the force which would be required to hold that extensive tract of country. The annual cost of occupying the City of Candahar and the posts on the line of communication with our old Frontier has been roughly estimated by competent authority in England at £1,400,000; but this estimate has been made on the basis of a smaller force than that which is now stationed at Candahar and on the line of communication. The cost of the present force, calculated at the ordinary Indian rates in time of peace, is rather over £950,000 a-year. Taking into consideration the additional charges, military and political, incident to the service beyond the Frontier, it is considered that the whole expenditure would not be far short of double the ordinary Indian cost for a similar force, which would bring the amount to nearly £2,000,000. No estimate has been framed which is based on official report from India; but the number of troops now serving beyond the Frontier on the line of communication was settled by the Government of India, and the statement of the normal cost of those troops serving in India is derived from official statements prepared in India. The rough estimate which I have given is an estimate of the cost of the force required for the occupation of Candahar and its communications. In my opinion, this would be a simple addition to the ordinary military expenditure of India, which, I think, would have rather to be increased than be susceptible of reduction in consequence of this measure. But this is, of course, a matter of opinion, and is open to discussion. Some details bearing on this estimate will be contained in the Papers which I propose to lay on the Table.