§ MR. J. EWARTsaid, he wished to ask the Paymaster General, For what reason the distribution of the Kertch Prize Money to the Army has been so long delayed, and when it may be expected to be made?
§ MR. HUTTsaid, in reply, that he was aware that the delays in the distribution 859 of the Kertch Prize Money had occasioned great disappointment, but it was impossible to pay it away till the persons entitled to share it were accurately known. There must be, not merely nominal and numerical lists, but also a statement of the rank held by individuals when the capture was made. When the House last year decided to award a sum of money in consideration of the stores and guns captured at Kertch, all the regiments concerned were serving in India, and some of them at very distant points. The Prize Rolls had since been received from most of the regiments, but from two of them, the 42nd and 71st, they came in a very imperfect state. Those two regiments were stationed on the extreme North-west frontier of India, and the 71st was at the time engaged in military operations. There was, consequently, much difficulty in communicating with them; but, at the beginning of the present year, the Adjutant General made special application on the subject to the officers in command of those regiments, and there was every reason to believe that the necessary documents were now on their way. As soon as they arrived, no time would be lost in distributing the money.