MR. JOSEPH COWENasked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether all the British troops have been withdrawn from the Pisheen Valley, and what is the distance of the farthest British outpost from Candahar?
§ MR. THOROLD ROGERSasked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether the station of Tull-Chotiali, in South-Eastern Afghanistan, has not been found very unhealthy; whether sickness and other privations endured by the Native Regiments stationed there, as 746 also in the outposts in the Pisheen Valley, has caused much dissatisfaction amongst the Native troops; can any prospect be held out of these Afghan stations being abandoned; and, can the Medical Returns from all the transpontine stations, including Quetta, up to some very recent date, be laid upon the Table?
§ MR. J. K. CROSSSir, there are no English troops in the Pisheen Valley; but there are two detachments of Native troops at the outposts of Gulistan and Khush-dil-Khan-ka-Killa. The former post is about 105 miles from Candahar; the latter about 110. In answer to the hon. Member for Southwark (Mr. Thorold Rogers), I have to say that no Report has been received of any special sickness at Tull-Chotiali. The latest Returns, of the 1st of June last, show that of the garrison of 520 men present, 22 were sick. There is no reason to suppose there is any dissatisfaction among the small detachments in the Pisheen Valley, or any cause for dissatisfaction. There is no intention of withdrawing those troops from these outposts. The latest complete Sanitary Returns of the Army in India are for 1881. The latest monthly Return for June, 1883, shows that of the 3,429 European troops in the trans-Indus stations, there were 221 sick, and of the 15,329 Native troops, there were 491 sick on the 1st of that month.