§ MR. LAURIEasked the Under Secretary for War, whether the regiments at and upon their passage to the Mauritius have orders to proceed to China; and whether the pay will be at the same rate as the regiments now quartered in India; and, if not, why not? Also, to repeat the question as to when the Order of the Medjidi will be issued?
§ SIR JOHN RAMSDENsaid, that some of our troops were now upon their way from the Mauritius to China, but they were so simply in the ordinary routine course of relief, and it was not the intention of the Government to draw upon the force usually stationed at the Mauritius, in order to reinforce the expedition to China. The troops in China would not receive the same rate of pay as those which were quartered in India. They would, however, be paid the ordinary colonial allowance as now-issued in the case of the troops stationed at Hong Kong. In reply to the last question, he had to state that the official list of those upon whom the Order of the Medjidi was to be conferred would soon be published, and he might add that it would have been published before, were it not that it had been found necessary to make certain alterations in the mode in which the list had been drawn up.