§ MR. STAFFORDsaid, he would beg to ask the Under Secretary for War a question as to two branches of the arrangements with respect to troops going to India, both of which have created considerable anxiety in the public mind. The hon. Gentleman was supposed to have stated, in answer to a previous question, that the troops had taker, a supply of suitable clothing with them, but he subsequently modified the statement by saying the cool clothing would meet them on their arrival at Calcutta. It was also rumoured that the troops were separated from the medical comforts and drugs which ought to attend them on the voyage. He wished, therefore, to ask whether the War Office have made arrangements for a supply of cool clothing during the voyage, and whether there is any truth in the report that the medical comforts and drugs were to be 1814 sent by ships not sailing at the same time or going in company with the ships conveying the troops to Calcutta.
§ SIR JOHN RAMSDENsaid, he was very sorry to find that the answer which he gave to a question put to him by the hon. Member for Evesham (Sir H. Willoughby) on a former occasion was not quite clear. He understood that question to be, what provision was made of cool clothing for the troops in India, and therefore in his answer he did not intend to touch upon the question whether the clothes would go out with the troops or be found on their arrival there. He did not think the question put to him embraced that point, and thus his reply gave rise to a misunderstanding which he regretted. With regard to clothing for the voyage, by a regulation at present in force soldiers ordered to a foreign station received an advance of three months' pay. Out of that advance certain articles called "sea necessaries" were provided by the commanding officers, the total cost of which amounted to rather more than £2, and the balance of the pay was handed over to the commanding officer to be expended in any articles which might conduce to the soldier's comfort on the voyage. He might also add that from inquiries which he had made at the India Board, he was able to state that whenever a transport was taken up by the East India Company, the owner of the transport entered into a contract to provide sufficient awnings to spread over the deck of the vessel, so as to protect the troops from the heat of the sun. With regard to the report that the medical comforts were separated from the soldiers on the voyage, he had the authority of the Director General of the Army Medical Department for saying that in every case the medical comforts and medicines went in the same ship as the troops.