§ SIR GEORGE BOWYERsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary of State for India, Is the Indian Navy to be abolished as a War Service, and converted into a mere Transport Service; if so converted, will the Officers be given the option of retiring on a liberal pension according to their length of service; if the service be kept on a war footing, how will it stand with regard to the Royal Navy, and will its services be confined to the Indian seas; and is it the intention of Government to build any more vessels expressly for the Indian Navy, or to make any more special appointments to that service; or, in other words, will it be suffered to die out?
§ SIR CHARLES WOODsaid, that, in answer to the Question, he had to state that the Government intended to reduce the expenditure of the Indian Navy. In consequence of the force not being any longer required in the suppression of the slave trade along the eastern coast of Africa which has ceased to be a petty trade carried on by Arabs only, and is now a trade to the West Indies carried on under the flag of European nations, it would be diminished in number, and would, consequently, become less expensive. No ships 714 had been built for that service, and no appointments had been made in it since he had taken office. A portion of the force, however, would still be maintained for the purpose of making surveys, removing troops, and for the protection of our interests in the Persian Gulf.