§ MR. STACPOOLEsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for India, If it be true that Her Majesty's Transport "Crocodile" lately left Malta 1198 for England nearly empty, while General Lysons and other officers and men whom she might have accommodated were waiting for passage home at the public expense?
§ MR. GRANT DUFF, in reply, said, it was within his knowledge that the Crocodile came home recently with no troops on board; but he knew nothing whatever of any application made on behalf of General Lysons, or of any officers or men for a passage in that vessel. Any application in the proper quarter for the accommodation of officers or men entitled to a passage at the public expense would, no doubt, have been complied with. It had not been the practice hitherto to allow officers to come home in the Indian Government vessels if they were not entitled to a passage at the public expense, but that practice might, perhaps, be re-considered with advantage in such exceptional cases as the hon. Gentleman's Question seemed to point to.