§ GENERAL SHUTEasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether he will consider the apparent hardship of retaining Cavalry Regiments twelve years in India, whilst it is usual to keep Infantry Regiments in that country only ten years, during two of which they are quartered on the hills in Bengal; which relief from tropical heat is not available to the Cavalry in consequence of the paucity of forage and water at hill stations; and, whether the Cavalry service in India might not now with facility be reduced to eight years, in consequence of the number of Dragoon Regiments doing duty in that country having been reduced to eight instead of twelve, as when the present length of service was fixed, thus compensating them for not having (as with Infantry) two years on the hills?
MR. GATHORNE HARDY, in reply, said, that this question had been under the consideration of the Department as far back as 1873. As at present arranged, Infantry regiments remained 12 years in India. There being nine Cavalry regiments in India, they served between 11 and 12 years; but, as one regiment 1811 returned home every season, the term of service abroad would soon be reduced to 10 years, at which it was proposed to fix it.